Crews Make Quick Work Of Power Outage At Vernon Commercial Plaza

VERNON, CT — A utility pole fell on some wires at the Tri-City Plaza Shopping Center in Vernon Thursday morning and temporarily knocked out power for most of the businesses there.

The call came in at 6:31 a.m., Vernon Fire Marshal Dan Wasilewski said. The incident took place behind the plaza, close to the Five Below store, he said. Most of the businesses had not opened yet.

One business that is open that early — Shoprite — was operating on a generator in the morning.

Several other businesses had makeshift signs posted in their windows indicating temporary closures, but by 8:45 a.m., the Eversource Energy outage map showed that "fewer than" five customers were without power in Vernon. A hour earlier, it had been 18.

Wasilewski said Eversource was at the scene quickly and was expected to make fast progress on the situation.

When first responding, Vernon firefighters encountered "a small spot fire," which was contained within minutes.

There was some heavy weather in the area overnight, but authorities weren't entirely sure what caused the pole to topple over.