Central Maine Power Co. has restored power to all of the southern York County customers affected by an explosion and fires this morning at an Ogunquit substation.
Service was restored to the final round of customers at about 12:45 p.m., said John Carroll, a CMP spokesman.
10:29 a.m.
An explosion and fires at an electrical substation in Ogunquit have caused large-scale power outages in southern York County that could last three more hours, according to the Ogunquit Fire Department.
Central Maine Power Co. said at least 2,600 customers are without power in Ogunquit, Wells, York, Kennebunk and Arundel, although the number is preliminary. North Berwick and South Berwick also have been affected, according to fire department.
“All of Ogunquit is out. Half of Wells,” said Shannon Bridges, an Ogunquit firefighter. “They’re trying to bypass through other substations right now.”
Bridges said it could be afternoon before power is restored, although a CMP spokesman could not confirm that.
The explosion happened around 8 a.m. at the substation on Route 1 when a squirrel got into the equipment and grounded out the transformer, Bridges said. The explosion set off three separate fires, all of which burned themselves out, he said. No one was injured.
A total of 6,353 customers are without power due to the substation failure, said CMP spokesman John Carroll.
The company hopes to restore power to the Wells and York area by 11:20 a.m., but it could take longer to reroute power to Ogunquit, Carroll said.
“We’re going going to work to see how much of that (downtown area) can be tied over,” he said.
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