A broken piece of equipment was determined to be the cause of a power outage that spanned much of central and southern Aroostook on Friday.
“A broken spar arm on a transmission line on June 6 caused about 13,000 customers to lose power. The first report was received around 8:52 a.m.,” said Susan Faloon, spokesperson for Emera Maine.
Crews found the problem was on a line between Presque Isle and Canada.
“It was on the line from Flo’s Inn Substation (off the Parkhurst Siding Road) in Presque Isle and New Brunswick,” Faloon said.
Areas affected ranged from Presque Isle all the way southeast to Island Falls.
“Communities affected by the outage included: Presque Isle, Mapleton, Easton, Mars Hill, Westfield, Bridgewater, Blaine, Monticello, Littleton, Houlton, Sherman, Patten, Oakfield, Smyrna and Island Falls, and the surrounding area,” said Faloon.
Presque Isle customers were the first to have their electricity restored.
“Everything was back on within a half hour,” said Faloon.
Another power outage was reported around 10:57 a.m. on Monday, June 9, in the Limestone area. Faloon said the problem involved a tap line at the Pond Substation, which affected about 1,320 customers in Limestone, Hamlin, Fort Fairfield and Caswell. Power was restored about an hour later.
Emera Maine encourages customers to stay clear of downed power lines and trees in contact with power lines. Customers may report outages or ask questions by calling the customer service center at 973-2020 or 855-EMERA11 (363-7211).
