Pole Fires Cause Outages For Thousands In Ocean City

OCEAN CITY, NJ — Three utility-pole fires caused power outages for thousands in Ocean City on Thursday, according to Atlantic City Electric. Most of the outages occurred between 1st Street and 7th Street from Boardwalk to Simpson Avenue.

The pole fires took place on the 3200 block of West Avenue, prompting a road closure from 31st Street through 34th Street, according to the Ocean City Firefighters Association.

The first outage occurred at 12:42 p.m. and impacted about 1,540 customers. Powers was restored by 12:53 p.m. The second outage happened at about 3:30 p.m., leaving about 750 without power before full restoration by 3:41 p.m.

The third outage began at about 5:30 p.m., affecting about 2,500 customers. ACE said they restored power for most by 5:45 p.m. The remaining 150 customers regained power by about 1:30 a.m.

The fires occurred because of salt contamination to utility poles combined with light precipitation and mist, according to ACE spokesperson Frank Tedesco. These conditions cause electrical devices to arc to damage equipment. Salt builds up on utility poles during warm periods with a lack of rain, Tedesco said.

Many drivers ignored the barricades put in place for the road closure, the Ocean City Firefighters Association said.

"Please respect road closures, they are not only there to keep all of you safe but to protect us as well," the agency wrote on Facebook.

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