WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. — Hospital patients in Lycoming County were in the dark for over an hour Thursday night after UPMC Williamsport lost power.
Emergency power was restored after an hour, shortly before 9 p.m., and PPL was on-site, working to return full power. That was resolved overnight.
PPL said an equipment issue at the hospital led to a community-wide power outage in Williamsport. In a statement, a representative tells Newswatch 16:
"The outage began at 6:40 p.m. and ended at 12:26 a.m. this morning. 415 customers were affected. The cause was related to an equipment incident at the hospital. As a result, our equipment automatically stopped the flow of power on the line to minimize the number of customers affected. PPL was able to provide the hospital service through another line. PPL crews were on site to assist in restoration efforts."
UPMC says the back-up generators didn't kick on immediately like they were supposed to, and they still need to find out why.
All of the important machinery, like ventilators, is battery-powered, so there was no disruption to patient care.
Two patients needed to be transferred because they needed a "higher level of care," according to a UPMC spokesperson.
The ambulance presence was seen Thursday night just in case they were needed.
City officials are looking into what caused the outage in Williamsport.
UPMC officials are also going to look into what happened and make a plan in case it ever happens again.
Fire officials say that there was no fire found in the hospital.
We still don’t have an exact answer as to what may have caused this power outage.
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
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