Line failure spurs brief power loss in region
About half a million residents in Eastern Massachusetts briefly lost electricity last night after an underground transmission line in South Boston experienced a power failure, said officials at
The power outage, which occurred around 7:30 p.m., set off fire and burglar alarms throughout the region, erased documents from countless computers, and left three people briefly stranded in an elevator at Massachusetts General Hospital. No injuries were reported.
It was not clear what caused the 115-kilovolt line running from NStar's K Street station to fail, but electric company officials said the loss of power -- which in general lasted for a few seconds and affected residents from Lowell to Worcester -- occurred as a result of the utility's protective relay system transferring power to other lines.
"If anything, this is a good example of our system working as designed, rather than putting people out of power for hours," said Bill Zamparelli, an NStar spokesman.
Police in Boston last night could not quantify the number of false alarms, but Officer John Boyle, a department spokesman, said, "Commercial and residential alarms increased throughout the city."
At Massachusetts General Hospital, where three employees were stuck in an elevator for about 10 minutes, an MRI machine had to be shut down when it began malfunctioning, hospital officials said.
State Police at Logan Airport said the lights there momentarily "flickered" before full power resumed. State Police at the Milton barracks said the lights went out for a split second, not long enough for the generators to come on.
Belmont police said they "lost everything" for about 30 seconds, which prompted many residents to call and ask what was happening.
A woman who declined to give her name at Amrheins Restaurant in South Boston said the lights went out "for just a second. It was just like a blink."
In Danvers, at the T.G.I Friday's restaurant, hostess Ashley Sullivan said, "The lights went out for a minute. . . . We were just wondering what happened to the TVs." Police in Burlington, as well as authorities in other parts of the state, also said they lost power for a few seconds.
"It wasn't long enough for our generators to kick in," said Burlington Lieutenant Thomas Duffy, adding that his department received six false alarms from business and three false alarms from nearby sewage pumping stations.
Officials at NStar last night said it may be a few days before they know what caused the line in South Boston to fail.
Globe Correspondent William Donovan contributed to this report. 
