NStar

Backhoe takes out electricity to parts of Fenway, Back Bay, Kenmore Square

adamg — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 14:27:33 +0000

Firefighters, police and NStar workers are on scene on Massachusetts Avenue by the Berklee construction site, where a backhoe took out some underground power conduits around 9 a.m., causing a power outage that extends to Northeastern and Bay State Road. The backhoe operator was apparently injured, but not critically.

Roving UHub reporter Chelsea reports:

Saw flashes then puff of smoke at mass ave and belvedere

Allston Rock City goes dark

adamg — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:54:54 +0000

The city reports a power outage in the area of Brighton and Harvard avenues. NStar is on scene.

Transformer fire blacks out part of Forest Hills for second time in two weeks

adamg — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:37:43 +0000

Superguppy reports power is out along Hyde Park Avenue from Ukraine Way to Walk Hill Street tonight - the same area that had a planned outage on Oct. 14 for NStar to do some maintenance work.

Flames shoot out of manhole, parts of Roxbury lose power

adamg — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 13:29:09 +0000

Power is out along Warren Street from at least Montrose Street to Elm Hill Avenue, where firefighters responded to a report of a flaming manhole shortly before 9 a.m.

Without power

adamg — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 13:08:20 +0000

The state reports that as of 6:30 a.m., nearly 140,000 Massachusetts customers remain without electricity - NStar 36,000 (about 850 in Boston) and National Grid 103,643.

NStar town-by-town numbers | National Grid map.

The Globe follows an NStar crew for a day and talks to National Grid about why Gillette Stadium got power before the rest of Foxboro.

Around 7 this morning, Andrea Courtois, who lives near the Rhode Island line but works in Brighton, tweeted:

Just saw a convoy of utility trucks heading S on 95. It pretty much brought tears to my eyes.

In Scituate, Art Beecher reports:

Day 4 w/o power: Have begun harboring deep resentment for these show-offs with their fancy "lights," "refrigeration," and "hot water."

More than 5,000 Nstar customers in Boston still without power

adamg — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 15:54:27 +0000

Town-by-town outage numbers and estimated full restoration times.

Several hundred thousand still without power

adamg — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 13:21:41 +0000

The Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency reports that as of 7 a.m., 91,021 NStar and 339,947 National Grid electricity customers were without power.

Could be days before everybody gets their power back

adamg — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 21:27:13 +0000

Fire Department alarm operations center. Photo by BFD.

UPDATE: City increased estimate of number of customers without power Sunday evening.

The mayor's office reports some ~~5,000~~ 11,000 NStar customers in Boston are without power and that it's "possible that some outages could last days."

Meanwhile, city crews received roughly 500 reports of downed trees and tree limbs across the city (including this one in Roslindale).

The Boston Fire Department reports firefighters responded to calls across the city, but especially in West Roxbury, Roslindale, Jamaica Plain and Allston-Brighton.

Area around Roslindale Square is powerless

adamg — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 13:15:50 +0000

Roslindale Square residents and business lost power for several hours last night; some reports this morning indicate the power still isn't back on at a steady rate.

Ed Grzyb reported around 8:45 a.m. that his power continues to flicker and that "my computers have been going haywire." The state reports the Roslindale Registry branch is closed "until further notice," although it's blaming Verizon problems.

Stephanie-Marie reports:

We lost power on Bexley at 9:30 last night and it was on and off all night, no electricity when I left for work this morning.

Cummins Highway at 1:30 a.m.

Power grid having some issues, from Dorchester to Charlestown

adamg — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 23:46:29 +0000

The mayor's office reports 2,800 customers in Dorchester just lost power.

Samantha Hammar reports Charlestown just blinked out as well.

Earlier in the after, much smaller sections of Roslindale and West Roxbury lost power for a bit as well.

A whoosh, a flash, then it was lights out for Somerville south of Highland

adamg — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 03:34:34 +0000

UPDATE: Power came back on around 10:45 p.m., Liz O'Donnell reports.

Around 10 p.m. Mike P. tweets:

Power went out 2x, came back. Big whoosh sound & a FLASH through the shades, & it's REALLY out now.

Liz Fong tweeted:

Saw a big lightning-like flash when it went out.

She adds the emergency generator at Somerville Hospital seems to be working; it has lights.

Mission Hill lights coming back on

adamg — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 23:21:45 +0000

City Councilor Mike Ross reported around 6:15 p.m. that 900 of the 1,114 Mission Hill residents who lost power have their lights back. Nstar is bringing in generators for some customers whose problems will take longer to fix.

Underground wire fire forces overnight evacuation of homes in South Boston

adamg — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 11:32:02 +0000

Channel 7 reports Nstar crews this morning were continuing to try to stop an underground wire under Bolton Street from smoldering. Nearby residents had to be evacuated last night due to high carbon-monoxide levels from the wires.

The Boston Fire Department reports fire crews responded shortly after 9 p.m. to 305 Bolton St.

1/13/11 - 9:00 pm

4+ hour power outage in Roslindale

markk — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 01:34:50 +0000

Power finally back on at about 8:15. Has been off since we returned home just before 4:00. Not sure how long it was off prior to that.

Beech Street in the vicinity of the Mozart School.

Jamaica Plain couple's Kafkaesque struggle over a utility pole

adamg — Mon, 06 Dec 2010 12:32:19 +0000

The Jamaica Plain Gazette recounts a Bourne Street couple's efforts to get the city and NStar to fix a sidewalk between their retaining wall and one of those stupid double poles Nstar is forever leaving around the city. The nadir:

This summer, the Inspectional Services Department (ISD) issued a citation against Salinger and Valenzuela for failure to repair their wall since its collapse in March.

Salinger and Valenzuela contacted Colleen Keller, the City's JP coordinator, for guidance. She told them to ignore the citation, as they were already in contact with [Public Works], Salinger said.

ISD then converted the citations to a criminal complaint, Salinger said. That complaint was hand-delivered and gave Salinger and Valenzuela 24 hours to comply, instead of the usual 30 days.