Posted on 10/04/2001 9:44:00 AM PDT by chance33_98
Several buildings in downtown Oklahoma City, including City Hall, were without power for an hour Wednesday. People were trapped in elevators and hundreds of workers exited down dark stairwells.
Oklahoma Gas and Electric Co. officials said a squirrel got into the system at the Robinson Avenue substation downtown and tripped a circuit breaker. Power went out at 11:30 a.m. and returned at 12:25 p.m.
"A squirrel shouldn't cause power to be shut off to half of downtown Oklahoma City," OG&E spokesman Tim Hartley said. "It was just one of those fluke situations."
Firefighters rescued three people from elevators in the county courthouse, and were working on freeing one person trapped in an elevator in the federal courthouse when power was restored. No one was injured.
The outage also shut down traffic lights.
Police headquarters and the Oklahoma City municipal courts also were affected by the outage. Police were without power for about 30 minutes. Some phone lines were knocked out of service.
Emergency 911 services were still available, a police spokeswoman said. The municipal courthouse was dark for about an hour. Backup power maintained emergency lights and security systems.
In the county courthouse and county office building, many jurors, lawyers, judges and employees left early for lunch, shuffling down the darkened stairways.
Employees used candles and flashlights to help people leave. Others stayed put.
"We just opened the curtains and kept going," said District Judge Ray Elliott, who is presiding over a trial.
An emergency back-up system at the county courthouse and county building did not work after a battery failed to start the generators. County officials said they plan to add self- sufficient lighting, which would work even if the back-up system doesn't.
Hartley said OG&E workers were doing routine maintenance on one of three circuit breakers Wednesday, so when the animal tripped the second breaker, it left one breaker to handle 69,000 volts of electricity.
"It's designed to do that to keep from damaging equipment and having a prolonged outage," Hartley said.
Indeed. Did anyone spot a moose in the vicinity?
I have noticed suspicious squirrel activity around the trees in front of my office building: chattering, an aggressive flicking of tails, digging around in the pine straw around the trees, chasing each other around the tree trunks. They're trying to act like they're nut-hunting, but maybe that's just what they want us to think.
I don't know about you, but I'm going to keep a close eye on those critters. They may look cute, but.........
Ironically enough, my own "squirrel saboteur" experience took place in Houston as well.
About six years ago, I was at work in an office building on Westheimer at Augusta when we heard a muffled "BANG", and the power began fluctuating wildly. It quickly went to a brownout condition for about 20 seconds, then failed completely.
It was soon discovered that a squirrel had managed to bridge the terminals on a nearby power pole transformer with its furry little body, causing a short circuit.
This was easily confirmed by looking out the window -- our offices overlooked the pole in question, and we could see the charred body of the squirrel laying across the transformer. In fact, it was still there and visible, petrified, several months later.
Computers can handle power outages without much trouble, but brownouts are bad news for them, and about a dozen computers in our offices were seriously fried and needed extensive repairs.
Landmark Graphics was our main competitor at the time, so we jokingly postulated that they had sent the squirrel to attack us, and for years thereafter the squirrel was known as "the Landmark squirrel".
Little militant Bastards!
LOL!
Another example of the government covering up the true facts. It's just too coincidental not to be terrorism.
Besides, how can we ever be sure what the squirrel's real modivations were, since it's "conveniently" dead now.
I think "they" hired someone to silence the witness.
Usually squirrels are gray or brown, but I've noticed that my apartment complex has a whole bunch of dark black squirrels. Are these mutant squirrels? Are they immigrant squirrels?
The FBI has already rounded up all the squirrels out here, and they’re going after the skunks and possums next!
The black squirrels fly the black helicopters. I can't say more. I've already said too much.
Hedgehog, drop whatever you're doing and HELP ME!
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