Updated: Widespread power outage hits Acton
Light Plant Director Jason Bulger said crews think the problem stemmed from an old power protection switch.
Power came back on late Wednesday morning after an outage affected nearly a third of Acton.
Police first announced the disruption in a social media post at 10:23 a.m.
The Acton Municipal Light Plant’s outage map showed 31.3% of customers without power as of 11:18 a.m. Officials announced that power was back on for all affected areas at 11:25 a.m.
Light Plant Director Jason Bulger said crews think the problem stemmed from an old power protection switch on Main Street near the Sudbury River. The switch, which functions like a circuit breaker, failed.
The disruption forced Acton police headquarters onto backup power, Capt. Brian Goldman told The Acton Bridge.
The outage knocked out traffic lights at multiple intersections.
A state police spokesperson confirmed that troopers were helping with traffic control at Route 2’s junctions with Walden Street and Sudbury Road.
CPD asked residents to refrain from calling 911 “to report this specific matter.”
A public schools spokesperson said Superintendent Laurie Hunter asked police to dispatch officers to Alcott Elementary School and Acton-Carlisle High School “to ensure communication in an emergency” given the outage and resulting lack of wifi and cell service.
“Students and staff handled it well,” spokesperson Tom Lucey said.
CMLP’s map showed outages again on the rise Wednesday afternoon. Bulger confirmed there was no active disruption and said those reports were an “artifact” of a predictive tracking tool.
October 14, 4:38 p.m.: This breaking story has been updated.
