Wellington blackout

Press, 29 July 1976, Page 2

Wellington blackout

PA Wellington! Most of the lower half of: the North Island was blacked ( (out by a major power failure’ at 6.22 a.m. yesterday. ,j Supply was restored to all! (areas within 65 minutes, but! (thousands of Wellington rail; (commuters faced much; (longer delays in getting to; (work. j The Electricity Depart-! Iment’s chief engineer for operations (Mr R. F. Mc-l Cullagh) said the fault de-i ( veloped in a HOkV trans-l mission line between the! Haywards and Takapu Road' sub-stations. The whole of Wellington I (city, the Hutt Valley, most; [of Wairarapa. and the west; Icoast as far north as Otaki ( .'were without power for; (varying periods. A Railways Department! :.spokesman. Mr Michael Bur-; (gess, said that during the blackout some extra buses! 'were run. Once the power was re- i (stored on the • Johnsonville. ■ ’ Paekakariki. and Hutt Valley I i lines, units were sent to'

'Wellington in quick succes- 1 (sion to clear the backlog of (commuters. Scheduled ser-i (vices were resumed about 9' i o’clock. | Mr Burgess said it had not; (been possible to- use diesel i ■(engines during the power: (failure because the lines! , ■ were blocked by the stalled' (electric units. ( Extra diesel buses were; pressed into action in'Well-! . jngton when the city's; J trolley-bus fleet was imino-; ibilised. ■! The hour-long power I "blackout caused at least one; 'mishap in Masterton, where; (candles used by a house-; holder ignited curtains. ( The Masterton Fire Brigade was called at 6.45 a.m. ( ■ to the house, but later re(ported that damage was. (minor. ( Within minutes of the : blackout the Wairarapa Electric Power Board was re-; (ceiving the first of many! (calls from customers tin-; 'aware of the extent of the. (interruption, and wanting in-; Iformation on why power had:

'been cut to their homes. “The calls came thick and' fast.—we were inundated un-( (til power was restored,” the (chief engineer (Mr T. K. H. ! Leong) said. i The interruption had .'caused many customers in-; (convenience, but there had I (been no major problems. Mr! ; Leong said. Wellington Hospital’s! emergency generator equip-; ; ment. cut in automatically when the fault occurred, to (maintain a power supply to (about 30 per cent of the hos- ■ pital, including the critical (care areas. New equipment (being installed at the hospital will increase its (emergency power-generation; (capacity to about 50 per cent ( (of the normal supply. When the power went off.. (automatic fire alarms were (activated where the batteries that provide reserve power were flat. The Welllington Fire Brigade had to (turn out to five such alarm (calls in 20 minutes. Power iwas restored to all of Weli(ington city by 6.50 a.m.