A major power outage struck Fresno and Clovis on Wednesday afternoon, forcing the closure of the Fresno State campus and backing up traffic for miles.
According to the Pacific Gas & Electric website, the outage struck at 1:29 p.m. and affected nearly 22,000 customers of the public utility. Denny Boyles, a PG&E spokesman, said the outage was triggered by a heat-related equipment failure at a transmission substation at Bullard Avenue and First Street. Boyles said PG&E was working to transfer power to undamaged circuits.
Fresno State planned to resume regular operations Thursday morning. Classes scheduled for Wednesday night were canceled.
As of 4:45 p.m., PG&E reported on its online outage map that all power was stored. The number of affected customers had been reduced to 465 as of 4:05 p.m.
Boyles reported that power was restored to the university’s Save Mart Center, where graduation ceremonies for Sunnyside High School were scheduled for Wednesday night.
Fresno State reported on its website that the campus had been closed at 2 p.m. The university reported about 3:15 p.m. that power to the campus had been restored, but all summer session classes hosted through Continuing and Global Education and scheduled for Wednesday night were canceled.
At its height, the outage stretched roughly from just north of Herndon Avenue south to Ashlan Avenue, and from North Maroa Avenue to just west of Minnewawa Avenue.
