Insulators fell into a transformer at this switching station near Foothills Mall, causing the blackout.
Repair Restores Power in Blount Co.
August 15, 2003
ALCOA (WATE) -- The repair at a switching station has restored power Friday for almost all the 50,000 people affected in Alcoa, Maryville and other portions of Blount County.
A spokesperson for Alcoa utilities said that when insulators fell into a transfomer at the switching station near Foothills Mall, it blacked out power early Friday afternoon.
Utility crews are working to restore power to the few customers who remain affected by the outage Friday evening.
The Maryville firefighers helped Maryville police officers with traffic control at the major intersections.
The ALCOA plant was not affected. Operations there ran normally because the plant is outside the power grid supplied by the utility.
Managers closed the Foothills Mall late Friday afternoon, saying it would re-open Saturday at 10:00 a.m.
Blount County schools stayed open, holding classes in the dark. Generators provided power at the hospitals.
The Alcoa Fire Department called in eight off-duty firefighters during the blackout. They visited schools to make certain everything ran smoothly.
Alcoa Utility officials said the outage was not related to Thursday's massive blackout in several northeast U.S. states and Canadian provinces. There are plans in progress to create a back up systems in case of further incidents.
_______________
6 News Reporters Steve Gehlbach and Tim Miller contributed to this report.