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‘Major Malfunction’ Leaves Thousands Without Power
February 11, 2011
Thousands of people in the eastern half of Escambia County, Ala. lost power Friday night after a “major malfunction” at a primary electrical substation — and they remained in the dark well into the early morning hours Saturday.
The incident happened at a Southern Pine Electric Cooperative main power substation just outside Brewton before 7 p.m. Friday. NorthEscambia.com received numerous reports that the “explosion” or a bright glow could be seen in the night sky from as far away as Jay, Century, Flomaton, McDavid and Walnut Hill.
Escambia County (Ala.) Director David Adams said about 5,000 Southern Pine customers lost power during what he termed a “major malfunction” at the power substation.
Power was restored for all customers after 4 a.m. as temporary equipment — essentially a portable substation — was transported to the scene from Power South in Andalusia, Ala., and installed.
The outage includes thousands of Southern Pine customers outside of Brewton and Flomaton — both cities are served by Alabama Power.
The incident was believed to have been the result of a small animal that wandered into the facility and created a short.
Comments
25 Responses to “‘Major Malfunction’ Leaves Thousands Without Power”
Thanks to all who were out in the cold night air fixing the problem! GOD BLESS YOU!!
I am home with the flu, but I do have gas logs to keep us warm. There is still nothing like that light switch. I recently retired from Southern Pine, and know first hand that the dedicated men and women will do everything they can to get the power back on as quickly as possible. God Bless you and above all, stay safe while you work . My power was back on at 2:30 A.M. To my friends and family at Southern Pine–THANK YOU!!!
What happened to EREC this morning at 4:00 am till 7:30 and beyond as they tried to restore power in the Chumuckla/Pace area. We took enough power surges to last 6 years when they tried to restore power.
Well I live right outside the Flomaton city limits, and our power came back on fully at 3:00a.m and it is still on.
I’M IN THE POLLARD-McCALL AREA ON HIGHWAY 31
THANK YOU SOUTHERN PINE
THANK YOU SOURTHERN PINE THE ICE JUST FELL FROM ICE MARKER AND I THOUGHT WHAT IN THE WORLD
OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! MY POWER IS BACK ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GOD BLESS YOU SOUTHERN PINE GUYS
Well, at 1:45am the power came back on for about 20 seconds and went back off again here in the wolf log area. I hope this means it won’t be much longer.
I thank god for this generator and electric heater, more so for my 15 year old Rat Terrier than myself.
I pray that others are finding a way to stay warm and that no sickness or death is caused by this power outage.
Oops – um -oops. . .
Temporary power loss.
I’m on the west side of Atmore (Alabama Power) and my lights flickered here, my surge protectors even started beeping. I guess all of the power companies are connected eventually.
Alabama power is working. I live in east brewton and have lights
>>There is a peculiar smell in the Mcdavid north area. Does anyone know where its is coming from or if it is associated with this incident?
Officials say the gas-like smells around Flomaton and down into North Escambia are from the gas and oil facilities in Escambia County, Ala. Nothing dangerous or out of the ordinary, just being pulled down with the light northerly wind flow.
There is a peculiar smell in the Mcdavid north area. Does anyone know where its is coming from or if it is associated with this incident?
They need to be putting people in the schools in the cities, like a shelter during a hurricane. The schools are on Alabama Power. Some people don’t have gas heat, generators or the means to get one. Come on, get real, it’s COLD!!!!!
Thanks William!!! As usual, great job! Our lights dimmed off Hwy 4 too. Hope everyone stays snuggled up.
It’s suppose to be freezing tonight! What are we suppose to do! It’s always something! They should pay to put us in motels, if we won’t have electricty till tomorrow..
Around 6: 30 our power started dimming and went off for a minute. I looked out to see if the neighbors had power and there was a huge flame looking toward Bratt.
We are located at Hwy 97 just north of 164. If this was what I saw, it must have been a very large fire to be seen that far away .
MY SIS IS AT WAL-MART (BREWTON) AND THE WORD UP THERE IS IT COULD BE 12 HOURS AND UP THREE DAYS. BUT YOU KNOW HOW THINGS GO ROUND THEY JUST GET BIGGER
MY SAYING ARE HERE SAY NO REAL FACTS.
>>will the act at jd still be able to go on tomorrow at 8 am?
I can’t give you an official answer, but JD is in the city limits of Brewton — so it should be Alabama Power. Alabama Power in Brewton is still on.
Anyone else know?
Arc Flash is no joke hope noone was injured.
will the act at jd still be able to go on tomorrow at 8 am?
MY LITTLE 3-4 POUND CHU-CHU. DON’T KNOW HOW TO ACT, HER BED HAS GONE COLD AND SHE GETS OUT OF IT COMES AND LOOKS AT ME AND GOES BACK. HER WAY OF TELLING ME SOMETHING IS WRONG WITH HER BED.
I do hear that by 6:00 AM
I have a 17 mon. little boy that just had a fit he didn’t know what was happening.
THANKS, SPEC, FOR GETTING ON THE SOUCRE 12 HOURS OF NOTHING BUT GOOD OLE TIME TALKING WE ALL NEED THAT BE CAREFUL WHEN YOU BEING TO WORK ON THIS
My husband and I saw the flicker of the fire and the smoke. We live in McDavid on a hill and have a clear view over the trees. Our lights blinked off and we were in the kitchen standing in front of the window facing towards the blast when the lights blinked, it was very red and lit up the sky. We could see all of the white smoke going up. At that time we did not know what had happened.
Oh I see the answer to my question now! “Well into the night, or perhaps into Saturday….”
Glad no injuries were reported! Any word on when they will get it back on??