An AEP worker repairs a short circuit Tuesday in a manhole at Holderby Hall Tuesday to restore power to Marshall's campus. Photo by Curtis Johnson

Power outages cause concern, cancel classes

Fire in the hole!

Residents of Holderby Hall and passersby believed just that as they saw steam coming from the manhole in front of the dormitory Tuesday morning.

According to American Electric Power (AEP), the steam was caused by a fault, or short-circuit, in an underground wire in front of the dorm's cafeteria. The original fault resulted in other faults, which in turn closed buildings and canceled classes.

After her alarm stopped going off at 8:30 a.m. and her power monitor started beeping, Alison Cookson noticed that the power had gone out. Seconds later the power came back on and Cookson, a sophomore biology and general science education major from Canton, Ohio, started getting ready for class.

"When I was in the shower, probably about 8:45 a.m., it went off for good," Cookson said. "I came out of the shower and looked out the window and there was smoke and steam coming out of this green box."

The green box is the switch cabinet that connects power for the Fifth Avenue side of the campus. The area surrounding that green box would be the scene of two electrical failures and the cause of a third. The first failure, between 8:30 and 9 a.m., occurred in a manhole near the cabinet, said Brian Sarrett, Charleston region's contract supervisor for AEP.

"A splice inside of one the manholes failed," Sarrett said.

"Due to the electrical stress and things, they fail over a period of time."

The failure in the manhole resulted in power outages from Twin Towers East to Corbly Hall. Dale Allman, director of the physical plant, said Jenkins Hall and Corbly Hall were both closed to classes during the morning and afternoon while AEP crews repaired the original fault.

Residents of Twin Towers got some exercise as they were forced to use the stairwells instead of elevators. "I think that it is an inconvenience because I'm on the 13th floor. I am going to have to walk up because I've got to get my books for class," freshman business major Tiffany Savage said.

"Anytime you introduce a fault current on a wire that is capable of carrying a certain amount of current, if there are any more stress points in that wire, that will aid in helping it further break down," Sarrett said. "That's what the case is here that caused the trickle effect on the underground system here."

The trickle effect caused the second fault at the switching cabinet, as a failed elbow connector to the switching circuit blew around 4 p.m. The circuit blew as AEP restored the system from the original repair.

Just as the elbow connector blew another fault occurred on the opposite end of campus.

"When we brought the original repair back in, one of the other weak points in the system failed due to the original breakdown of the cable," Sarrett said. At 5:30 p.m., this fault had not been found yet. Sarrett suspected the fault occurred somewhere between the Memorial Student Center and Smith Hall.

The late afternoon faults resulted in power outages throughout most of campus. The new outages caused the university to cancel Thursday's remaining classes for the entire Huntington campus. The only buildings not affected included the John Deaver Drinko Library, Old Main and all buildings on the opposite side of Fifth Avenue.

Al Ward, supervisor of building trades for residence services, said that as of 5:30 p.m. power outages were still reported in all of the original buildings affected Tuesday morning, along with Hodges Hall.

Student security in Twin Towers said power had been restored at 6:30 p.m. to the dorms and lobby area. At 7:30 p.m. Twin Towers East security said that one elevator was operating, but that power outages would return to the dorm within three hours.