Squirrel causes Wichita power outage

[June 25, 2013]  WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- One small rodent is getting the blame for a massive power outage in southern and eastern sections of Wichita.

KAKE-TV reports (http://bit.ly/135zFpa) nearly 10,000 customers of Westar Energy were affected by the outage Monday afternoon.

Authorities say a squirrel crawled into equipment at a substation, causing a transformer to blow out. A fire then broke out at the substation. Firefighters were quickly able to bring it under control.

Power was restored to the Westar customers in about one hour.

___

Information from: KAKE-TV.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.