UPDATE: National Grid said that on Saturday at 1:00 p.m., power was restored to all customers (which was ahead of the original schedule, where the utility had said power could be out as long as 4:30 p.m.)
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Original story:
Several thousand National Grid customers in this area will be out of power for several hours on Saturday, Jan. 6.
But it’s a planned outage, according to utility officials, who said that it will affect parts of Monroe, Ontario and Livingston counties.
That includes communities including Avon, Caledonia, Lima and Livonia in Livingston County; Bloomfield and West Bloomfield in Ontario County; and Henrietta, Honeoye Falls, Mendon and Rush in Monroe County.
Around 7,300 customers will be affected, and the time frame National Grid is giving for the outage is on Saturday from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Spokesperson David Bertola said that during a routine check of equipment several weeks ago, crews discovered the need to replace some poles that support a transmission line.
“We realized that they needed to be replaced and what we wanted to do was replace them immediately,” Bertola told WXXI News. “To your point about the winter, is it ideal? No. Would we prefer to work in June or July or August? Yes, but this is when we found the found these poles needed to be replaced.”
Bertola said some customers may choose to turn up their heat the night before so that they can deal with the chill that happens when the power goes out.
But he added that the utility also has worked with municipal officials to set up several warming centers at firehouses and other locations on Saturday.
“We worked with them to establish seven warming centers,” said Bertola. “So if you can't stand the cold in your home, you could you could increase the thermostat maybe the night before to around 74, 75. Then when the power goes out, the house could stay warm throughout the day. So that's one way to combat that. But the warming centers are another place to go at least from a convenience standpoint.”
Here is the list of the warming centers open on Saturday for National Grid customers:
Livingston County
East Avon Fire Department, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
1615 West Henrietta Rd. Avon, NY 14414
(585) 226-8207
Avon Fire Department, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
74 Genesee St. Avon, NY 14414
(585) 226-8770
Lima Emergency Services Base, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
7024 W. Main St. Lima, NY 14485
(585) 624-2221
J.W. Jones Hall, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 366 Leicester Rd. Caledonia, NY 14423
(585) 538-4626
Hemlock Fire Station, to be open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
7375 Al Sharpe Ave
Hemlock, NY 14466
(585) 367-2730
Monroe County
Mendon Fire Department Community Room, open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. 101 Mendon Ionia Rd. Mendon, NY (585) 624-6061.
Rush Fire Department Building, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 1971 Rush Mendon Rd. Rush, NY 14543 (585) 533-2058.
Honeoye Falls Ambulance Base, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
210 East St. Honeoye Falls, NY 14472
(585) 624-2200
The utility said that anyone who depends on electrically powered life support equipment should call National Grid at 1-800-642-4272. And officials said that in a medical emergency, always dial 911.
Ontario County
Ionia Fire Department, open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
8338 County Rd. 14
Ionia, NY 14475
(585) 657-7188
West Bloomfield Congregational Church, open 7:30 am to 4:30 pm
9035 Routes 5&20
West Bloomfield, NY 14585
(585) 624-1313
