Features

Squirrel puts a cog in the works

Staff
Thursday May 23, 2002

 

El CERRITO — A wayward squirrel got into a circuit breaker at a Pacific Gas and Electric substation, cutting power to 27,570 customers Wednesday. 

Residents in El Cerrito, North Berkeley and Richmond lost power at about 12:10 p.m. Power was restored by 3:04 p.m. 

“The squirrel was much worse for the wear, as was our equipment,” PG&E spokesman Jason Alderman said. 

The circuit breaker was seriously damaged when the squirrel’s body disrupted the flow of electricity. Animals getting mixed up in the power supply are one of the biggest causes of outages, Alderman said.