Outage cancels classes at BU
Last updated: September 11, 2013 - 6:15pm
BLOOMSBURG -- PPL crews were working to restore power to the Bloomsburg University campus Wednesday evening after an afternoon outage led the university to cancel classes for the remainder of the day.
Crews were summoned to a reported fire on a electrical pole near Columbia Hall around 2 p.m. By 3 p.m., the university was getting word out on social media that classes were canceled until Thursday morning. Crews were able to restore power to 222 surrounding homes and businesses by 2:50 p.m., PPL spokeswoman Teri MacBride said. By then, the problem was confined to the university, she said.
PPL continued to work on the problem, but by 4:30 p.m., the university was reporting there could be no outdoor lights on campus this evening. Several campus facilities, including the library, were scheduled to close early. Classes were scheduled to resume at 8 a.m. Thursday.
Storms blowing through the area are causing delays in the repairs, MacBride said. It was unclear exactly what caused the outage, but MacBride said it was an equipment failure of some type. She said the 90-degree heat could have played a factor, since the hot weather can put additional stress on some electrical equipment.
PPL expected to have the problem repaired before midnight, she said.