Wildwood power station fire knocks out electricity - Press of Atlantic City

Wildwood power station fire knocks out electricity

WILDWOOD — Parts of the city lost power Friday, with only a few regaining electricity, after a fire broke out at an electrical plant substation.

The fire originated in the small building on Lake Avenue. Atlantic City Electric was forced to shut down the substation, which impacted electrical service to about 24,000 customers in Wildwood and Wildwood Crest, said Candice Womer, a spokesperson for the company.

As of Friday evening, there was no timetable on when power would be restored, according to Frank Tedesco of Atlantic City Electric. The company worked to reroute power from the local grid to get clusters of people back online, Tedesco said.

As of 5 p.m., about 1,800 customers had power in the Wildwoods, and about 15,000 were expected to get their power back by Friday evening, Tedesco said. Outages for some were expected to continue into Saturday.

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The fire began about noon. Police alerted the public to the fire at 12:26 p.m., and it was contained shortly after 1 p.m., Womer said. The cause of the fire was under investigation.

"We understand how disruptive this can be and we are working safely and as quickly as possible to restore service," Womer said.

Traffic lights were out throughout the city, including several at the immediate entry points coming into the city. Police directed traffic at the north end entrance into North Wildwood by Anglesea Drive.

The Wildwood Recreation Center was open for anyone who needed a place to escape the heat. North Wildwood police said the city's rec center would be open as a cooling center, as temperatures continued to climb during the day.

A small portion of Lower Township was impacted as well, and the township opened a cooling center for residents at the Recreation Center behind Township Hall on Bayshore Road.

The Wildwood Crest Library closed Friday afternoon and said it would reopen Saturday if power was restored. Wildwood's fireworks show was also canceled.

Police were stationed at various high-traffic intersections throughout the island. Dozens of people were outside their homes trying to avoid the heat inside.

The outage's effects could be felt offshore, as well. Traffic leaving the Wildwoods for the mainland was lined up heading into Rio Grande.

The outage could have a significant impact on revenue for the city, Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron said.

"Financially, it could be devastating," Byron said. "They could be losing hundreds of thousands of dollars."

Members of the Kelly family, vacationing from Emmaus, Pennsylvania, were on the beach when word started spreading that the outage was disrupting activity in the Wildwoods. They returned to their rented home on West Youngs Avenue to find the home's smoke detectors going off because they were disconnected from their power source.

They were left to throw a "porch party" with their dogs, Chai and Honey, to escape heat inside.

"We're making the best of it," said Rebecca Kelly, 35.

About a block from the substation, John Bradley, 64, of Philadelphia, was staying at his second home in Wildwood when he saw thick, gray smoke rise above the electric plant on Susquehanna Avenue.

"Not a big plume, but it was a good amount," Bradley said from his porch.

Minutes before first seeing the smoke, Bradley's home lost power, and he instantly connected the two events once he saw the fire in the distance.

Contact Eric Conklin:

609-272-7261

Twitter @ACPressConklin