“A massive electrical blackout hit Akron’s central business district Tuesday afternoon. At approximately 1:30 p.m. black smoke was sighted on the sidewalks on Main Street near Canal Park. A fire was discovered in an underground electrical vault controlled by First Energy Corporation, the city’s electricity provider.”
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A massive electrical blackout hit Akron’s central business district Tuesday afternoon.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. black smoke was sighted on the sidewalks on Main Street near Canal Park. A fire was discovered in an underground electrical vault controlled by First Energy Corporation, the city’s electricity provider.

The power was required to be shut off because the fire was electrical. Of the 300 customers that were denied power due to this occurrence, many were businesses.

Due to the loss of power, the affected businesses were evacuated as a safety precaution. Consequently, the city of Akron was hit with traffic jams, panic and a rush of workers trying to evacuate buildings in the dark.

According to First Energy spokesperson Mark Durbin, there were three circuits in the vault, and two of them needed to be disconnected. The one running by itself could not supply enough power to all the businesses in the area. The First Energy building, located on Main Street, was one of the businesses affected by the power outage.

It was unexpected, said Ryan Grady, a University of Akron civil engineering student and a part-time employee of First Energy. We’re their utility providers, but the power outage affected us as well. It was ironic.

The University of Akron was not included in these businesses, due to the fact that its electricity runs on a different system than most of the downtwon customers.

The electrical system of Akron is like a street map, Durbin said. In this case, the damaged portions were not run on the same circuit as the University of Akron.

An e-mail was sent Wednesday morning to assure students that classes would continue as scheduled.

Joseph Gregor, associate vice president of physical affairs, said the e-mail was sent because the University of Akron was not completely sure where the power outage had occurred.

Fortunately, we were not affected by this outage, Gregor said. We are completely dependent on First Energy Ohio Edison for our power; the university does not produce its own electricity.

Gregor said the university has 49 emergency backup generators, which were used in past power outages.

It’s always possible that the University of Akron could have lost power, Durbin said. However, all problems are contained now.

According to Durbin, nearly all the necessary repairs have been completed; most of the businesses affected regained power by 6 p.m.

The last place to recover power was Main Place, located at 121 S. Main Street. Power was restored at 2 p.m Wednesday.

The initial cause of the fire is still unknown.

Durbin said that the cooperation of the Akron police and fire departments was outstanding.

Everyone responded exactly how they should have, he said. It’s not something you really want to go through, but it was handled in the best way possible.

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