Ohio Edison working to restore power to 7,000

Staff report

Ohio Edison is working to restore power to more than 7,000 customers.

Mark Durbin, First Energy Corp. spokesman, said at about 9:30 a.m., equipment at a substation in Boardman malfunctioned leaving about 6,000 customers in Canfield without power.

Durbin said while attempting to restore power, a substation in the Youngstown area failed, cutting power for another 4,000 in Youngstown and 1,200 in the Salem area. He said power was restored to the Youngstown-area residents around noon, and electricity should be working for Salem-area residents before 2 p.m.

Those affected in the Canfield and Boardman area should have power by 2:30 p.m. “at the latest,” Durbin said.

“We’re not sure what caused the initial malfunction,” he said. “We’re looking to get the customers restored as quickly as possible, and then we’ll go back and address the issue.

“These systems are designed to be very strong, but on occasion something like this happens.”