Wildwood Black Out UPDATE – 10PM

Wildwood Black Out UPDATE – 10PM

At approximately 12:15 p.m. on Friday, July 7th, a widespread power outage struck the entire Island of Wildwoods, encompassing North Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, West Wildwood, and Diamond Beach.

Social media platforms quickly became flooded with reports from residents confirming the power outages, affirming that the entire Island had been disconnected from the Atlantic City Electric power grid.

The outage map provided by Atlantic City Electric revealed that 98% of the island was currently without power.

The Wildwood Video Archive has verified that a fire occurred at the Atlantic City Electric Lake Avenue Substation located at the intersection of Oak and Susquehanna Avenue.

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This particular substation, owned and operated by Atlantic City Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation, is part of a larger network of substations and power facilities responsible for transmitting and distributing electricity throughout southern New Jersey. The substation plays a vital role in providing the local community of Wildwood and the surrounding areas with a reliable source of electrical power.

Furthermore, the Lake Avenue Substation serves as a hub for transforming and regulating electricity to an appropriate voltage level for local distribution. It receives high-voltage electricity from transmission lines and reduces it to a lower voltage level suitable for consumption by the community. This process ensures the safe delivery of electricity to homes and businesses in the vicinity.

Comprising various equipment and components such as transformers, circuit breakers, switches, and protective devices, the substation works cohesively to regulate voltage, safeguard against power surges and faults, and maintain grid stability.

The Atlantic City Electric Lake Avenue Substation incorporates modern technologies and control systems for efficient monitoring of electricity demand, voltage levels, and other crucial parameters. These systems enable swift response to any potential issues or emergencies within the substation or the surrounding distribution network.

In previous years, Atlantic City Electric undertook significant upgrades to the substation and utility poles connecting the island to the mainland. These poles, transported via helicopters, were installed to withstand wind speeds of up to 80+ miles-per-hour, while internal improvements within the station were implemented to enhance reliability.

According to reports, the Wildwood Fire Department was the first to arrive at the scene, subsequently elevating the fire alarms from a First Alarm to a Second Alarm.

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In firefighting, the severity of a fire is often categorized using alarm levels. Although specific definitions and protocols may vary among fire departments, a higher alarm level generally indicates a more significant fire with increased complexity and potential for damage.

In this context, a *Second Alarm fire typically denotes a more severe situation than a *First Alarm fire. Alarm levels dictate the number of resources, including fire engines, firefighters, and equipment, dispatched to the fire scene. A *First Alarm fire triggers the response of a predetermined number of firefighting units to control the initial incident.

However, if the situation escalates and demands additional resources beyond the initial dispatch, a higher alarm level is declared. A *Second Alarm fire signifies the deployment of a second wave of resources, usually twice the number dispatched for a *First Alarm fire, to assist with fire suppression, rescue operations, and overall incident management.

Here is the latest as of 10pm on Friday July 7th.

Atlantic City Electric has restored power to approximately 15,00 customers. They expect that approximately 15,000 customers will get power back later this evening while outages for some customers will carry into tomorrow – they will communicate with those customers directly. Given the complicated nature of this damage, they are not able to provide an estimate on when service will be restored to the entire area.

Crews are continuing to work to reroute electricity and restore service to everyone who is impacted.

Looking on the island it looks like mostly Wildwood Crest is back online with Wildwood and North Wildwood still have some areas dark. (though at 20th street we have power) 

For tonight, Fireworks were postponed to Sunday, Morey’s Piers will be closed for Friday July 7th and Traffic Lights are out.

Earlier today the Wildwood Video Archive did a video on the situation. You can watch it below (and be sure to subscribe)