Wildwood In Black Out After Electrical Plant Fire

Wildwood In Black Out After Electrical Plant Fire

Roughly around 12:15 p.m. on Friday, July 7th the entire Island, commonly known as the Wildwoods went into a blackout. 

The Wildwoods refer to the cities of North Wildwood, Wildwood, Wildwood Crest, West Wildwood, and Diamond Beach. 

 Residents in the area quickly jumped on social media to report their power outages which confirmed that the entire Island had been disconnected from the Atlantic City Electric power grid. 

According to the Atlantic City Electric outage map, 98% of the island is currently sitting with no power.

The Wildwood Video Archive can confirm that there has been a fire at the Atlantic City Electric Lake Avenue Substation located at Oak and Susquehanna Avenue.

This substation is owned and operated by Atlantic City Electric, a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation. It is part of a broader network of substations and power facilities that transmit and distribute electricity across southern New Jersey. This particular substation serves the local community of Wildwood and the surrounding areas, providing them with a stable source of electrical power.

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The primary function of the Lake Avenue Substation is to transform and regulate electricity to a suitable voltage level for distribution. It receives electricity from higher voltage transmission lines and steps it down to a lower voltage level that is appropriate for local consumption. This voltage transformation process ensures that electricity can be safely delivered to homes and businesses in the vicinity.

The substation consists of various equipment and components designed to perform these critical tasks. This includes transformers, circuit breakers, switches, and other protective devices. These components work together to regulate voltage, protect against power surges and faults, and maintain the stability of the electrical grid.

The Atlantic City Electric Lake Avenue Substation incorporates modern technologies and control systems to monitor and manage power flow. These systems enable efficient monitoring of electricity demand, voltage levels, and other parameters. They also facilitate prompt response to any issues or emergencies that may arise within the substation or the surrounding distribution network.

A few years back, Atlantic City Electric came through and made some major upgrades to this and the utility poles that run from the main land into the island. These poles, which were brought in via helicopter, were installed to sustain wind up to 80+ miles-per-hours.

During that time a few upgrades were made inside the station to ensure reliability.

According to the report, the Wildwood Fire Department was the first on the scene where they upgraded the fire alarms from a First alarm to a second alarm.

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When it comes to firefighting, the severity of a fire is typically assessed using a system called alarm levels. The specific definitions and protocols may vary depending on the fire department and jurisdiction, but generally, a higher alarm level indicates a more significant fire with increased complexity and potential for damage.

In this context, a *2nd ALARM fire is generally worse than a *FIRST ALARM fire. The alarm levels indicate the number of resources, such as fire engines, firefighters, and equipment, that are dispatched to the scene of the fire. A *FIRST ALARM fire typically triggers a response of a predetermined number of firefighting units to control the initial incident.

However, if the incident escalates and requires additional resources beyond what was initially dispatched, a higher alarm level is declared. A *2nd ALARM fire indicates that a second round of resources, usually twice the number dispatched for a *FIRST ALARM fire, is called in to assist with fire suppression, rescue operations, and overall incident management.

Atlantic City Electric has been giving out many different estimations on when the power will be restored on the island.

The latest information states that they hope to have the entire island connected by 7 pm. Some have received texts that they could start seeing power as soon as 2 pm.

Below is a video showing how Atlantic City Electric work in installing the new utility poles.