Turning the Corner: 13 Crews To Work Today

After more than 50 percent of the town remained without power for five days, power is finally starting to return to homes across the community.

There were just 4,110 Connecticut Light & Power outages remaining in Southington as of midnight, representing 21 percent of the community. Across the state, there were 321,028 CL&P customers without power, or 26 percent of all customers.

Garry Brumback said after several days of things finally turned the corner following several phone conversations with CL&P President and Chief Operating Officer Jeffrey Butler and Jim Munce, who oversees engineering operations for CL&P’s parent company Northeast Utilities.

“I expressed the concerns we’ve had and they told us they would get on top of our priorities and to this point, they have,” Brumback said. “It’s too early to say if it’s improved, but we are hopeful. We are projected to get 13 crews tomorrow.”

Most of those crews are contractors who have joined the efforts in the past couple days. If another 200 out-of-state contractors arrive Friday as the company anticipates, the town could see even more crews out on the road.

On Thursday, CL&P workers spent considerable time in the town’s northeast quadrant and well as in the southwest corridor. At the height of the day, there were nearly 8,100 without power but the numbers were skewed due to power being cut off for the repairs.

A total of 7,600 people have had their power restored since some of the restoration first began on Monday.

Brumback said there’s more good news for residents: the Southington Town Council has approved an executive action allowing him to enter into a contract for curbside pickup and U.S. Rep. John Larson has said that President Barack Obama is committed to signing a declaration that would give Southington access to a 75 percent reimbursement from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for recovery costs.

“We don’t have any projected costs yet (for debris removal),” Brumback said. “We are working with contractors to assess the magnitude of the problem and a time-line for pick-up. Once we get that, we will have a better idea of what it will cost.”

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing. The recovery has led to an increase in the number of fire calls for the .

The department has responded to “more than 300 calls this week” and the recovery effort has led to a specific increase in the number of fire related-calls over the past two days said Fire Capt. Peter Kurtz. There has been a variety of calls, he said, related to the wires sparking or problems inside homes as a result of power surges.

“When the power surges as they charge the line, it causes motor issues in appliances such as refrigerators and can create a smoking that fills the house,” Kurtz said.

Firefighters have also responded to multiple fires as a result of downed wires, including putting out two along Birchcrest Drive in the last 24-hours. They have also responded to two house fires at homes as a result of people using alternative methods to cook indoors.

There were no serious injuries.