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Lights never went out at suspected origin
EASTLAKE, Ohio (AP) -- Roughly two hours before the nation's largest power outage, steam and ash started spewing from FirstEnergy Corp.'s coal generation plant here, blanketing nearby homes, cars and picnic tables. The plant had released ash before, but neighbors said Thursday's eruption was the worst in recent memory. "We noticed the dust and we said 'What the heck is that?"' said Mike Tangora, 73, who lives nearby in northeast Ohio's Timberlake. "It was almost like it was snowing. We've been here since 1962 and that's the worst I've seen it." The plant shut down about 2 p.m. Thursday, the first of several sites where transmission failures occurred in the Cleveland area before the blackout. Investigators are examining whether the failures sparked the outage that left 50 million people in eight states and parts of Canada in the dark. FirstEnergy owns most of the failed lines. FirstEnergy spokesman Ralph DiNicola declined to talk about specifics of the investigation, saying the company was turning over data to investigators. Investigators say about an hour after the Eastlake plant shut off, FirstEnergy's Chamberlin-Harding power line followed. The Chamberlin substation, slightly smaller than a football field, is tucked away from the road, down a gravel path and behind a chain-link fence. Workers from a nearby Chrysler stamping plant said the lights dimmed about 3:30 p.m. Thursday. "I thought it was just a power surge like we get all the time," said Tom Irons of Akron. "The power never went out." The outage at Chamberlin put strain on FirstEnergy's Hanna-Jupiter line, heating the wires and causing them to sag into a tree and trip off. Surrounded by farms and acres of emerald green trees, the Hanna Substation in Rootstown is considerably larger than the one in Chamberlin, stretching about the length of four football fields. The area is so remote the only sounds heard are roosters crowing and birds chirping. There were no visible signs Sunday of damaged lines or trees. Circuit breakers and powerline towers go as far as the eye can see. The substation is fenced off and a "No Trespassing" sign is posted. Across the road, Jim Wilburn said he and his neighbors never lost power Thursday. "I didn't even know that the power went out until I came in and turned on the TV. I was outside all day," Wilburn said. Wilburn's daughter-in-law, Carmeine Wilburn, said lights flickered about 4 p.m. but the store never fully lost power, and the flickering soon stopped. Rootstown resident Gus Mackey was surprised when he heard the local station may have been involved in the outage: "Rootstown didn't even lose power." Back in Eastlake, Tangora has kept a sandwich bag of ash, should investigators want to examine it. Robert Burns, senior research specialist at Ohio State's National Regulatory Research Institute, said an unusual release of fly ash, or airborne particles, may be an indicator of operational problems. Timberlake Mayor Sam Santangelo, who can see the plant from his back yard, said he was driving home shortly before 3 p.m. Thursday and heard a loud noise, indicating a release from the stacks. "There was a rushing noise out of the stack and given the size and the pressure, the noise is deafening," he said. Timberlake resident Frank Vanah, 71, said he called the power plant after hearing the noise and reached a manager. "He told me there was some kind of electrical short or something like that," he said. Henry Reed, 47, put a finger on an outdoor table on Sunday. "You could put your finger here Thursday and write your name on the top of the table. The fly ash was about the depth of three layers of chalk on a blackboard. It's highly unusual. I've never seen anything like it." Copyright 2003 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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