Fallen tree causes outages

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The transformer at the intersection of Horton Hill and New Haven roads in Naugatuck blew Wednesday afternoon charring nearby tree limbs. –LUKE MARSHALL
The transformer at the intersection of Horton Hill and New Haven roads in Naugatuck blew Wednesday afternoon charring nearby tree limbs. –LUKE MARSHALL

NAUGATUCK — A fallen tree and equipment failure knocked out power for Connecticut Light and Power customers in Naugatuck and Beacon Falls Wednesday.

As of 2 p.m., power had been resorted to everyone in Beacon Falls and all but five customers in Naugatuck, CL&P spokesman Mitch Gross said.

At the height of the outages there were roughly 2,250 people without power, the majority in Naugatuck.

Gross said the issue stemmed from a tree falling down on Beacon Valley Road in Naugatuck that took down wires. He said CL&P received the report of the tree down shortly before noon.

Also there was an equipment issue with a transformer on Horton Hill Road near the intersection of New Haven Road, he said. The transformer later blew.

According to Naugatuck police, the transformer started smoking at approximately 12:45 p.m. and then emitted two fireballs. The road was already shut at the time. The fireballs singed the trees and oil from the transformer rained down around the area, but nothing caught fire after the initial explosion, police said.

CL&P was on the scene and restored power at around 1:30 p.m. Only one lane was open on a part of Horton Hill Road as crews worked at the scene to fix the transformer and conduct environmental cleanup.

Maple Hill Elementary School in Naugatuck was among the customers without power for part of the day. Interim Superintendent of Schools James Connelly said students remained at the school during the outage and power was restored by 1:30 p.m.