Careless squirrel sends half of Hillsdale into darkness

Home City News Careless squirrel sends half of Hillsdale into darkness

 

Squirrel nibbles on nut./Wikipedia
Squirrel nibbles on nut./Wikipedia

The lights of homes and businesses throughout Hillsdale suddenly flickered and shut off the morning of Sept.1, affecting several local business owners and consumers.

According to Councilman Bruce Sharp, power loss occurred when a rogue squirrel attempted to jump across an electric wire. The squirrel snapped the wire as it plummeted, cutting lights across town.

According to Electric Distribution Superintendent Chad Culbert, the power outage lasted approximately 13 minutes and affected nearly half of the Hillsdale Board of Public Utilities’ customers.

The power loss occurred at 9:05 a.m., and lasted until 9:18 a.m., causing 3,015 people to lose power. This affected several businesses located in downtown Hillsdale, including the Palace Cafe.

“It emptied our restaurant,” manager Angee Gaglio said. “When the lights shut off we had to turn all of our customers out to the streets.”

The power outage also affected the Patriot’s Day Fly-In event that was being held at the Hillsdale Municipal Airport.

“For a little while no one really knew what to do,” Sharp said, “but luckily the BPU was able to identify the problem quickly.”

Two of the main feeders responsible for the power on the east and south sides of town were affected by the squirrel, who did not survive the incident. Once the BPU discovered the location of the main break, they were able to restore all the power at once.

“The BPU did their job and got right on it,” Sharp said.