2/16/2012
By the Salina Journal
An equipment malfunction at a substation in south Salina caused an 18-minute power outage for 8,600 Westar Energy customers Thursday morning.
The outage affected businesses, schools, residences and other customers in central and southwest Salina, as well as people in Assaria, Marquette, Smolan and Brookville.
Westar spokesman Tom Sydow said the outage occurred at 8:05 a.m. at a substation at the corner of Schilling Road and Ninth Street. Power was back on at 9:03, he said.
"We’re still scratching our heads, trying to figure things out for sure" how the outage happened, Sydow said. "Bottom line, we’re still investigating."
Emergency lighting activated at Salina South High School and at Ell-Saline middle school and high school in Brookville, but classes continued as scheduled.
Adam McDaniel, Ell-Saline principal, said he was informed by Westar that the outage might last two to four hours.
District officials had considered calling off classes, but power was restored.
Other major buildings affected included Central Mall, Kansas Wesleyan University, the Medical Arts Building off South Santa Fe Avenue, the south Salina industrial area and Great Plains Manufacturing in Assaria, Sydow said.
  


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