Outage Knocks Out Power to Thousands in Portsmouth Sunday

About 8,000 National Grid electricity customers lost power for about two hours in Portsmouth on Sunday morning after a problem at the Freeborn Street substation.

National Grid spokesman David Graves said that there was a report of a fire at the facility, but members of the Portsmouth Fire Department responded and found some smoke, but no fire.

Many homes and businesses in Portsmouth were dark, but the switchboard at the Fire Department was lit up as residents called to inquire about the outage.

A post on the Portsmouth Fire Department Rhode Island Fanpage reported the department’s business and emergency lines were “flooded with calls.”

Meanwhile, fire department responders continued to respond to real emergency calls during the outage.

“Curiosity is not an urgent matter,” the post stated. “Strong work by FD responders and dispatcher while responding to the fire and medical emergencies during the outage.”

The outage lasted for about two hours and power was restored shortly after 11 a.m.

In the future, if there is a power outage, residents are advised to check the National Grid Power Outage Map. You can also report outages using your smartphone.

National Grid has created a short video showing how to report and check the status of an outage. Watch it below.

Photo: Bing Maps