Power Out for Branford Commercial District

Around 1:40 p.m. today, more than 12 commercial businesses on North Branford Road lost power including Comcast, , Seton Name Plate and .

Deputy Chief William Pepe, who responded to the scene, reported that a tree limb came in contact with power lines causing the pole to ground out and power to be cut off to the area between Thompson Road and Commercial Street. Power was also killed for neighboring residents on portions of School Ground Road, Flax Mill Road and Marbar Street. Connecticut Light and Power is reporting 267 customers without power.

CL&P crews are in route to the scene, said Pepe, and the power is expected to be out for one to two hours.

Pepe stated that work crews from AT&T who were servicing a nearby section of wires on North Branford Road witnessed four explosions and were able to report the outage to the fire department. AT&T is not believed to have done anything to cause the power issue.

Pepe said some of the businesses in the area, including Public Works have back-up generators and are not being affected by the power outage.

The area is safe for driving and no one was injured during the incident. One automatic fire alarm was triggered at 69 North Branford Rd., as a result of the outage but not fire was evident.