Downed Wires Caused Heat-Filled Power Outage Sunday

The extended Independence Day weekend was full of heat and humidity, sending locals to nearby pools and the New Jersey Shore for relief.

But for 600 homeowners who came home Sunday afternoon, or were already in their air-conditioned Long Valley residences, relief was gone for as many as 12 hours.

Two wires came down in the West Valley Brook Road area of Washington Township around 2:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Jersey Central Power & Light Corporate Communications representative Ron Morano. The outages affected residents in the valley area as well as atop Schooley’s Mountain.

The cause of the downed wires, however, has yet to be found.

Once diagnosed, repair crews were dispatched to the area to find the downed wires and begin working, Morano said. As of 4:45 p.m., 336 residences had their power restored, but another 240 were still in the dark.

And would be until well into Monday morning.

Thunder, lightning and rain rolled into the area around 8 p.m. Sunday, putting a stop to the crews’ work, Morano said. Once linemen were back in action, the remaining 240 residents had power restored around midnight.

But it didn’t last. Once power came back, a fuse blew on the same circuit, and full power wasn’t restored until 3 a.m., Morano said.

While cause for the downed wires has yet to be found, Morano said it could be a number of reasons, but wouldn’t speculate. Previous damage finally giving way is certainly not out of the question, he said.

According to Washington Township Mayor Ken Short, who spoke with a JCP&L area manager Monday morning about the issue, no timetable for correcting ongoing problems with outages in town has been established.

As for performance during the recent mini heat wave, JCP&L’s systems have been working as designed and there have been no issues in the greater Morris County area, Morano said.

Was your power out on Sunday? How did you beat the heat?