DTE: All Power in Ferndale Restored

After 2 1/2 days of power outages and brownouts for the majority of Ferndale, DTE Energy spokesman John Austerberry has reported that all power has been restored in Ferndale.

"At 6 this morning, all customers in Ferndale have been restored," Austerberry said.

Started on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m., Ferndale residents started reporting outages throughout the city. By Wednesday night, about 5,000 homes and businesses were without power. DTE reported that a cable bringing in electricity to a transformer at the West Nine Mile and Dover substation blew.

DTE workers than began to transfer customers from the cable to the second transformer at the substation. Due to the stress and the continued heat, that second cable malfunctioned Thursday night, leaving nearly 6,000 homes and businesses in Ferndale without power.

The outage was the result of a dayslong record-breaking heat wave baking much of the Midwest. Temperatures all week ranged in the 90s with Thursday reaching 100 degrees in some areas and the power system couldn't keep up with the extra service demands as residents and businesses cranked up the air conditioning and ran fans. The city of Ferndale opened the Gerry Kulick Community Center as an all-night cooling station to help those without power beat the heat.

By Friday, DTE brought in portable generators to help alleviate some of the outages due to the faulty cables. Friday evening, DTE realized it was going to have to, in fact, shut down the majority of its customers in Ferndale to fully make repairs.

"We repaired one of the two cables by jumpering," Austerberry said. "Basically we hooked up customers from one circuit to another through the cable."

Austerberry said that through jumpering and through the use of the two generators DTE brought on site Friday, Ferndale was powered up at 6 a.m.

"We'll be able to maintain service to everyone as long as the loads don't get too high," he said.

Austerberry is asking all residents in Ferndale to conserve energy over the weekend. He asks the homeowners either curtail the air conditioning for as long as they can or keep the temperature around "80 or so."

"Keeping it at 80 doesn't put a strain on the system as much as having it at 70 or 72," he said.

He also asks residents to delay using the dishwasher, clothes washer or dryer – "anything with a big motor" – for the weekend.

Austerberry said DTE is continuing to work on the second cable throughout Saturday and Sunday to get the substation in full operation again.