Squirrel causes another area blackout
By Jill Casey / Staff Writer
Friday, September 5, 2003
Nuts! Squirrel causes blackout
Just as people were turning their coffee pots on and sending their children off to the first day of school, a brief blackout affected approximately 1,900 customers in the Allston-Brighton area.
According to Don Walsh, community relations director for NSTAR, the blackout had nothing to do with the Lincoln Street substation, also known as station #329. Walsh said the work of a squirrel three streets over on Holten Street caused a fault in the wire that traveled to Lincoln Street, causing a live wire to fall to the ground.
"Something like this happens every day at other stations. Without overstating that this is common, this was not an unusual situation," he said.
Peggy DiBudou, a direct abutter to the substation, said she heard an explosion around 7:30 a.m. which wasn't as large as past transformer breakdowns, but it resembled a "pop, bang noise," which caused her to jump. When she went outside her door, she said a live wire was in the street "smoking and smoldering."
"School buses are going by, and people are walking by, and the wire is just sitting there. No police, no Edison, where is the fire department," she said.
Walsh said within the hour, a trouble-shooter was at the scene and tended to the situation. He said although a station manager was on hand when the incident occurred, he was not trained to tend to these types of situations.
DiBudo, who has been monitoring the substation upgrades as a concerned abutter, said they are most concerned with the response level of NSTAR.
"What about the safety mechanisms that they were talking about. This is why we want them to put the wires underground," she said.
Walsh said power restored to customers starting at 7:43 a.m., with the last customer being turned back on at 10:31 a.m. Knowing that so much attention has been placed on station #329, he said the fact that it happened here was "just sort of a coincidence."
According to Walsh, the squirrel was dead as a result of the incident.
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