Extended power outage affects hundreds

A power outage affected hundreds of customers for several hours on a pristine summer Sunday in Bradford.

FirstEnergy Corp. spokesman Todd Meyers said a transformer at the utility’s substation near the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford failed around 3 p.m., impacting about 300 customers on two different power lines.

Residents along Interstate Parkway and West Washington Street toward Campus Drive wondered what could have caused the prolonged outage on a calm and pleasant day.

“This was not a simple weather-related outage,” Meyers said. “We don’t know what caused the transformer to fail at this time.”

Bradford Regional Medical Center spokesman Joseph Fuglewicz said hospital operations were not affected.

At Pitt-Bradford, power went out just as the campus was preparing a welcome-back inflatable carnival and cookout for students on the night before the first day of classes.

Generators in buildings near the carnival as well as portable generators powered the entertainment. A generator in Frame-Westerberg Commons ensured dining hall freezers and refrigerators remained cold. Generators in residence halls built since 2005 supplied emergency lighting for students to navigate dorms.

Officials said power flickered back on for about 10 minutes Sunday evening, but then went back off and remained off until 3:30 a.m. Monday.

Director of Facilities Management Jack Rae explained that although nearby residential areas had power restored between 8 and 9 p.m., the university is served by 3-phase power. All three legs of the Penelec feed had to be online before campus power was restored. Penelec is a subsidiary of FirstEnergy.

Rae said facilities workers were at the university until 5:30 a.m. turning back on systems such as air conditioning units that turn off when there is a power outage to protect equipment when power is restored.

Meyers said most customers were restored throughout Sunday afternoon and into the evening using different power lines. “The last customer on the second line was restored at about 8:30 p.m.,” he said. Customers on the other affected lines remained without power until 4 a.m. Monday.

“It is possible that some customers may have lost power a couple times in the process,” Meyers stated.

Testing conducted by FirstEnergy on Monday indicates the equipment will need to be replaced, Meyers said, adding, “we are still investigating to figure out the root cause of the transformer failure.”

Bradford Mayor Tom Riel said, “It does seem like these outages are becoming more and more frequent. Maybe they (Penelec) need to update their infrastructure, but for the rates we’re paying you would think they would figure out what the problem is.”

Riel pointed out that some residents, those using oxygen for example, depend on the power supply and many businesses can’t stay open without it.

“It doesn’t seem like it affects the whole valley every time, but portions of it,” Riel said. “It’s an annoyance and an inconvenience on many levels.”

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