Tree Knocks out Power in Buckingham

A tree fell on power lines in Buckingham on Thursday, knocking out electric service to 2,710 customers.

The tree fell on overhead wires at Mill and Sunnyside roads at 10:16 p.m., PECO spokesman Ben Armstrong said Friday.

Of the customers that lost power, 1,583 were out for less than a minute. That is because of equipment called switches on PECO's poles that detects and isolates outages, then reroutes electric service to the affected customers, Armstrong said.

A PECO response crew found the downed tree, removed the tree from the lines, and restrung the lines, Armstrong said. Power was back on to the other 1,127 customers by 11:15 p.m.

"We have crews throughout our service area who are constantly on call to respond to events like this," Armstrong said. "In fact, when we expect bad weather, we will hold crews, keeping them at one of our service buildings so they're ready in case a call comes in."

And despite today's technological advances, Armstrong said it still is helpful when customers call PECO to report that their power is out. The more calls thatt come in, the more quickly the company can pinpoint the problem area, he said.

To report an outage to PECO, call 1-800-841-4141.