Transformer Fire Cuts Power, Closes Hospital Emergency Room In Brick

BRICK, NJ — A fire in a transformer that overheated along Route 88 knocked out power to a section of Brick Township on Tuesday, forcing the hospital to close its emergency room for a few hours, authorities said Wednesday.

Ocean University Medical Center was diverting emergency patients to other hospitals starting about 5:30 p.m. Tuesday while it operated on a generator, a hospital spokeswoman said Wednesday.

Power was restored about 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, and the hospital has returned to normal operations, she said.

The transformer that caught fire was one of multiple transformers that had issues on Tuesday night, Brick Township police said Wednesday.

Jersey Central Power & Light crews "were in the area for a prolonged period of time due to multiple disruptions to the main transformers located on Burrsville Road," a police spokesman said.

The transformer fire wasn't the only issue that caused outages, said Christopher Hoenig, a spokesman for JCP&L.

A wire came down on higher voltage lines that feed the substations, Hoenig said, causing the outage for Leisure Village and Brielle/Wall, as well as at Ocean University Medical Center.

"Due to the added strain of having multiple higher voltage lines down in relatively close proximity, we took a local load reduction in Pt. Pleasant that affected about 5,000 customers to protect the electric system from additional damage," Hoenig said.

More than 4,500 homes and businesses in Point Pleasant, Point Pleasant Beach, Bay Head and Mantoloking were affected on Tuesday night.

Power had been restored to the majority of those affected by 10 a.m. Wednesday, according to the FirstEnergy outages map.