Sayreville fire leaves thousands without power
SAYREVILLE – A JCP&L worker suffered non-life-threatening injuries and some of the borough is without power due to an explosion and fire Friday at the power station near Main Street and Sayreville Boulevard, police said in a Facebook post.
The Sayreville Police Department received a call at about 11:15 a.m. reporting a fire in the JCP&L substation in the 300 block of Main Street, Borough Business Administrator Glenn Skarzynski said.
Police, fire, Hackensack Meridian EMS and Engine Co. No. 1 responded to the scene, he said.
One of the JCP&L workers received burns to his hands, was treated at the scene and transported to Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Skarzynski said.
A second JCP&L worker experienced a medical episode and was transported to a local hospital, he said.
About 6,000 customers are affected, Skarzynski said.
For the last couple of days, the borough has been experiencing rolling brown outs, he said. JCP&L identified an issue at that substation. On Thursday night they brought in a mobile substation. Today they were in the process of switching over the power to that in order to do comprehensive repairs to the existing substation when this incident occurred, Skarzynski said.
The fire seems to have self-extinguished, but the fire department still had not made it into the building to determine the cause, Skarzynski said.
JCP&L expects customers to be without power at least until Friday evening, Skarzynski said.
The Sayreville Senior Center, 423 Main St., will be open as a cooling center for those without power as a result of the fire, police said.
Main Street is closed between Sayreville Boulevard South and MacArthur Avenue.
Due to the power outage, Borough offices closed at 1:30 p.m. Friday, Skarzynski said.
In addition, Woodrow Wilson Elementary School had an early dismissal, he said.
Residents are urged to exercise caution, Skarzynski said. Several traffic signals are out and there will be manual traffic direction at several intersections in the borough, he said.
Email: sloyer@gannettnj.com
Susan Loyer covers Middlesex County and more for MyCentralJersey.com. To get unlimited access to her work, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Sayreville NJ power outages after explosion, fire
