December 3, 2015

Waldwick Suburban News Edition

PSE&G BLAMES CABLE FAULT FOR TRANSFORMER

EXPLOSION
BYLINE: Rodrigo Torrejon, Staff Writer; E-mail: torrejon@northjersey.com

SECTION: NEWS; Pg. A04

LENGTH: 278 words

DATELINE: Waldwick

Waldwick -- A cable fault was responsible for the Hopper Avenue substation transformer
explosion that rocked the borough Sept. 13, according to a PSE&G spokeswoman.
"Our investigation concluded that the unit failure was caused by a cable fault inside the tank
that in turn ignited the mineral oil insulating the transformer," spokeswoman Brooke
Houston said on Nov. 12.
The 10:31 a.m. explosion caused a fire and prompted power outages throughout the county.
The ensuing fire created thick plumes of black smoke.
Residents expressed concern at the time about the toxicity of the smoke, although Mayor
Thomas Giordano assured residents that the fire was fed by mineral oil and was non-toxic.
According to the Waldwick Fire Department, about 40 homes were evacuated while
firefighters controlled the fire. Giordano said that 25 local fire departments and about 200
firefighters responded to the fire call. Residents were also given the option of seeking
shelter at the borough ambulance corps building until the fire was under control.

The explosion also caused a power outage for 16,000 customers that lasted approximately a
minute. A subsequent outage affected 2,000 customers until 1:12 p.m., when power was
rerouted to Hillsdale.
It was initially determined that the fire was prompted by a transformer malfunction that was
fed by mineral oil used as a coolant to the transformer.
"We believe that a cleat that holds the cable in place broke, allowing that cable to drop onto
another cable," said Houston. "This caused a cable fault inside the tank that was filled with
mineral oil."