Power cut; school evacuated
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Two unrelated events caused some power problems Tuesday morning in South Franklin, North Franklin and Morris townships, including the evacuation of Joe Walker Elementary School in McGuffey School District.
Diane Holder, West Penn Power spokeswoman, said a squirrel in the Lagonda substation caused a “blink” in the system.
A water pump motor at the school overheated because of the interruption, said McGuffey Superintendent Beverly Arbore, and the school’s approximately 200 students in preschool through fourth grade, as they had practiced in fire drills, headed for the playground, spending 20 to 30 minutes there.
An alert went out to students’ families, a backup generator at the school provided power, and lunch and classes proceeded as usual until regular dismissal time, Arbore said.
Meanwhile, a wire in the same area came down about 9:30 a.m., and Holder said the entire circuit experienced an outage affecting 1,410 customers.
Power was restored to the school and the surrounding area by 12:30 p.m.