ZERBE TOWNSHIP - Contrary to rumors, Saturday night's power outage was not caused by an all-terrain vehicle accident, brush fire or vandalism.
A PPL Electric Utilities official confirmed Tuesday afternoon that a tree outside the utility's transmission right-of-way in the Trevorton area fell onto a 69,000-volt power line, causing an outage that affected approximately 12,500 customers in Zerbe Township, Coal Township, Shamokin, East and West Cameron township, Little Mahanoy Township and the Rebuck area.
Teri MacBride, PPL spokeswoman, said there was no foul play to the best of her knowledge with the tree falling onto the power line, which affected PPL substations in Little Mahanoy Township, Coal Township and Gowen City.
MacBride said the first outages were reported at 6:52 p.m. Power in the Shamokin-Coal Township area was zapped at 7:47 p.m. and restored at 10:15 p.m. McBride said power was restored to the last customers at 12:45 a.m. Sunday.
MacBride did not know what caused the tree to fall, but said it may have been affected from previous storms. There were no heavy winds or precipitation when the tree fell.
The power line reportedly fell in multiple places in a wooded area between Gap Road and Sunshine Road that is popular for ATV riders and sparked a brush fire that wasn't extinguished until shortly before midnight.
The outage pressed police, firefighters and emergency personnel into service as traffic signals, street lights and other electronic equipment were knocked out.