Squirrel causes post power outage, fire

Most of the work force at Fort Gordon had left for the day Sept. 3 when a sudden power outage occurred affecting a portion of the post near Signal Towers.

Master Sgt. Shaba McKenzie, the noncommissioned officer in charge on duty in Signal Towers at the time, was one of the first to call the post's Installation Operations Center and report the loss of electrical power. "The clock in my office stopped at about 6:42 p.m.," said McKenzie.

Alberto Mejia, who was on duty at the time at the IOC, informed McKenzie that he would notify the [Fort Gordon] Directorate of Public Works.

At about 6:57 p.m. the Fort Gordon Fire Department received notification and dispatched Engine Truck #30 to the parking lot of Signal Towers.

Once Fort Gordon Firefighters David Edmiston, Dan Johnson and Anthony Dobbins arrived at the scene they began their investigation. They were not only searching for the cause of the outage, but determining how much of the post was without power.

Joining them were John Ryan, the Fort Gordon Fire Station chief; Bill Wright of the Fort Gordon DPW office; and Georgia Power staff, Lee Eddy, a trouble lineman, and Capt. Mark Mills, an engineer.

It was discovered the power outage affected Nelson Hall, Moran Hall, Signal Towers, and the school houses located behind Signal Towers to Rice Road. A squirrel was responsible for the outage. At the time she was building a nest inside a transformer located in front of Building 29808, Signal Towers, near the café.

According to the Fort Gordon Fire Department's Incident Report dated Sept. 4, the source of the power outage and transformer fire was due to a squirrel gaining entry into the transformer unit causing a short circuit on the breaker/fuse switch.

"The source of ignition was due to sparking coming from the switch igniting a cardboard box that was stored inside of the unit," said Joseph Hamm, one of Fort Gordon's certified fire inspectors.

This particular transformer power stations' front panel door was not secured to meet manufacture design, explained Hamm. "The original latching mechanism designed to ensure a completely sealed unit had been removed. The latching mechanism had been replaced with a length of steel chain, and a padlock on the chain to prevent entry into the transformer.

"The chain/lock system did not completely seal the door tight," continued Hamm. "It gave an allowance for the door to open up to a maximum of two inches; which was ample space for the squirrel to gain entry into the power source."

Hamm recommended a survey of ground transformers be conducted on Fort Gordon. "If there are any other transformers secured with lock and chain like this one; then action to repair these doors to original specification should be accomplished," said Hamm. "This measure would prevent any future possibilities of this type of situation from taking place again."

While the power outage and fire didn't cause a loss of (human) life, it did result in a dollar loss to U.S. Army property of about $210 which was limited to the cost of replacement fuses inside the transformer.