ESCANABA – One year ago today, Escanaba was under a local “state of emergency” after what appeared to be an explosion at the power plant’s substation caused a major power outage in the middle of the night.

One of the breakers at the city’s main substation had malfunctioned at 1:20 a.m. on Feb. 2, 2015, lighting up the night sky and shutting off power to homes, schools and businesses. Temperatures outside were in the single digits.

“It was a big concern with the weather,” recalled Electric Superintendent Mike Furmanski, not sure if an explosion had actually occurred. The fault malfunction could have caused an arcing which may have looked like a fire, he said Monday.

Immediately following the incident, electric crews from across the region were called in to help diagnose the problem and make repairs so full power could be restored to the city as soon as possible.

Many residents were without electricity, local schools were cancelled, the courthouse was shut down, and several businesses were closed mainly on the east side of town. Some traffic lights were not working. Two break-ins occurred downtown while power was out.

“It was very concerning for the first 30 hours,” said Furmanski. “We didn’t keep everyone on at the same time. We were doing rolling outages.”

By relying on the city’s 22-megawatt substation on the west side of town, Escanaba underwent rolling power outages, switching customer power on for two hours and off for two hours to prevent overloads. The main priority was to heat homes by alternating blackouts in different areas of the city.

While electric crews worked around the clock to restore power, residents checked on neighbors, emergency personnel contacted individuals with special medical needs, and a shelter was set up at the civic center where cots and food were available. Local police were also on heightened alert.

People were making use of fireplaces and wood stoves to keep warm during the below-freezing weather conditions. Others ventured to their camps or stayed with friends and family who had heat. Some residents were forced to warm up in their vehicles. About 60 people sought shelter at the civic center, including eight people who stayed overnight.

Less than 28 hours after the substation had faulted, power was restored to all 7,000 customers in the city at around 5 a.m. the next day. A 7.5-megawatt mobile substation had been transported from We Energies in Iron Mountain and was temporarily hooked up to the city’s electric system.

Despite power being restored, City Manager Jim O’Toole urged residents to conserve energy where possible due to the uncertainty of the power load and the potential for fuses to be blown.

Furmanski said he continued to be concerned about the power situation for a month and a half during construction of a temporary substation.

On March 19, the city switched its power from the rented mobile unit to the new substation at the power plant. The new unit was constructed using major parts which the electric department had in stock and additional parts which had to be ordered.

The new unit is now being used on a permanent basis along with the west-side substation. Construction of a third station – with a capacity of 28-megawatts – will begin this spring on 20th Avenue North.

The $2 million substation has been in the city’s budget since the power plant was going to be sold more than five years ago.

That sale – and several other deals – fell through until today when Jon Liss officially purchased the plant to expand his local machining business. (See related story.)

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Jenny Lancour, (906) 786-2021, ext. 143, jlancour@dailypress.net