July 08, 2023
The cause of a fire at a substation Friday that temporarily knocked out power for about 24,000 customers in the area is still under investigation, Atlantic City Electric said Monday.
Power was restored early Sunday to all of the Wildwoods.
The restoration process involved bringing in temporary equipment, including large generators, and other out-of-state gear, Atlantic City Electric officials said.
"As we powered up these temporary devices, we were having to closely monitor the energy demands of customers on the system to ensure these devices can keep customers powered now," company spokesperson Frank Tedesco said. "We also are aware of increasing temperatures in the coming days and are taking this into consideration as crews continue to balance customer demands with the capabilities of the temporary equipment across the island."
The fire originated about noon in the small, brick building on Lake Avenue. Police were first alerted to the blaze about 12:30 p.m. It was contained shortly after 1 p.m.
To fight the fire, the electric company shut down the substation.
"We've never had an incident like this before," Valerie Ryzner, 59, of Wildwood Crest, said Friday.
Some customers endured further outages once the power came back on because of efforts to reroute electricity.
Wildwood Mayor Pete Byron on Friday feared the outage could persuade people to either leave the island or forgo their intended trip, leading to a loss of "hundreds of thousands of dollars" for local businesses during the height of the tourism season.
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