WESTFIELD – Widespread power outages hit the city of Westfield Sunday evening, but through the efforts of Westfield Gas & Electric, the problems were quickly alleviated.
G&E spokeswoman Beth Burns said that Westfield’s situation wasn’t unique, as many communities in western Massachusetts were facing outages as well.
“Starting at about 6 p.m., we had a few outages, but we had crews come in quickly. We responded,” she said Monday morning. “We had a wave at 6 and then there was another one at quarter to 9 or so.”
Burns said that the second period of thunder, lightning and rain caused outages that were concentrated mostly in the southeast corner of the city.
“(There were outages on) East Main and Main Streets. We had a limb come down on East Mountain Road but nothing of any great significance,” she said. “It was quickly repaired and we had people back in power.”
Burns acknowledged the strength of this weekend’s storm.
“There was a little more activity than we’ve seen yet this summer, but it’s not surprising given that it was a pretty intense cell that came through,” she said.
Ann-Marie Scherpa of Munger Hill Road, had her home hit by a lightning Sunday evening.
“It first hit our pool filter and then traveled underground to the house, which caught the lint from the lint trap on fire, which traveled into the house through the dryer,” said Scherpa, who added that the fire department’s response was speedy.
“They had a lot that they were handling. I guess a lot of calls came in at once. It always seems long when you’re waiting,” she said.
Aside from a portion of wall that had to be chopped at to prevent further fire damage, the family’s home was unharmed.
“They (firefighters) had to hack the wall in the garage into our mudroom, our pool doesn’t work so we have to get that fixed, and it smells, but everyone is fine,” she said.
Scherpa said she wasn’t aware of anyone else in the city whose homes were damaged by errant lightning, but said her neighbors saw a streak of lightning hit a tree in their backyard earlier in the evening.
“We’re just waiting for the insurance now,” said Scherpa.
Elsewhere in the area Sunday evening, lightning strikes would cause far worse damage.
In Worthington, a home on Thrasher Road suffered a severe fire that state fire marshal’s said was caused by lightning.
The fire was reported at around 6:30 p.m., and Worthington Fire Chief Richard Granger said that a pine tree near the home was hit by lightning first.
“It knocked the bark off, traveled down through the ground and to the house.” said Granger, who stated Sunday that the probability of saving any part of the house, owned by Justin and Rebecca Burmeister, is very low.
In Southwick, Director of Emergency Services Charles Dunlap advocates for residents to always be prepared in case of extreme weather conditions.
“As individuals, people should have an emergency plan for all hazards, including severe weather, for their homes, workplace, and immediate family, and to work with neighbors as a team,” he said, referencing evacuation and sheltering as important precautionary measures for neighborhoods.
Dunlap said that during major storms he unplugs his major appliances, such as his microwave, computers and television set, so as not to give lightning a chance to damage his appliances.
He has also outfitted his own residence with lightning protection, but the decision to splurge on this “safety investment” is a personal decision.
“I know the severity of lightning and what it can cause and do,” he said. “The town of Southwick has had lightning protection put on the town offices, the police station and the fire station. After being hit several times and having $58,000 in damage and your communications interrupted, it was under the recommendation of a few people that we spend the money.”
Dunlap estimated that the town spent around $40,000 on lightning-proofing its key municipal buildings several years ago.
“One of the things I’d like to stress is for people to pay attention to impending extreme weather,” he said. “Stay tuned into the media and watch for advisories and warnings, and also have a National Weather Service storm radio, so that if soemthing appears while you’re sleeping, it will go off like a smoke detector.”
