Power outage Friday
Businesses on Uniontown’s Main Street were temporarily shut down Friday morning after Allegheny Power experienced equipment failure at a substation, leaving several places without electricity. The power outage left two people stranded in an elevator at First Federal Savings and Loan of Greene County and countless motorists bewildered as traffic lights on busy streets were without power.
Fred Solomon, a spokesman for Allegheny Power, said 300 places on the commercial circuit were without power from around 10 a.m. to noon.
“Everything on our end was resolved by 12:04 p.m.,” he said.
Joseph Abraham, vice president of First Federal, said the bank had to shut down for two hours while it was without power.
Two employees were stuck in the elevator for about 15 minutes before other employees were able to free them, he said.
According to Abraham, a furnace was damaged during the power surge and started to smoke, but no other damage was done.
He said the situation was a scary for the people stuck inside the elevator to smell smoke and hear people talking about it. The bank was up and running by noon, he said.
City police Sgt. Michael Metros said no vehicle accidents occurred during the power outage, which affected traffic lights on Morgantown, Church and South streets. Police officers directed traffic while the lights were out.
“It was a big deal to a lot of people, but everything’s fixed now,” he said, adding that all of the traffic lights were working by 1:30 p.m.