25 UC Berkeley Buildings Briefly Lose Power

An equipment problem at a University of California at Berkeley electrical substation briefly knocked out power to 25 campus buildings this morning, a campus official said.

The outage was reported at 8:30 a.m. Power was back on about 30 minutes later, facilities services spokeswoman Christine Shaff said.

The buildings affected are mostly in a hilly area in the northeastern corner of the campus, Shaff said.

She said there was an equipment malfunction during a routine maintenance check at the main substation in that area.

Engineers worked quickly to restore power, but are still investigating what caused the malfunction.

The outage hit the campus during students' final week of classes for the fall semester, according to the academic calendar. Finals are scheduled for the week of Dec. 10.