Essential Energy confirm unplanned power outage caused by bird impacting network

The outage begun shortly after 8am on Wednesday morning and left more than 1,200 homes and businesses across east and southern Orange without power for some time.

Traffic lights across the city were also affected, with at least three intersections along Bathurst Road and one on the Southern Feeder Road being thrown into relative chaos as a result.

Businesses were impacted too, with at least McDonald's Orange - on Bathurst Road - and Anson Street School confirmed to have lost power during the outage, their separation a nod to the area the incident covered.

Essential Energy crews responded quickly and, upon investigation, discovered a bird had caused the mass outage.

"To ensure the safety of the public and property, electricity network protection equipment operated automatically after detecting a fault, switching power off," Essential Energy Northern Region Community Relations Manager Bronya Pressler explained.

"Crews responded immediately and found a bird had impacted the electricity network on Lords Place."

"A check of the electricity network confirmed no further damage and after ensuring it was safe to do so, power was restored to all customers at 8.54am."

Staff at Anson Street School confirmed that power was restored, as did McDonald's staff.

However the impact at McDonald's was quite large, they were forced to stop service because of the outage and staff confirmed there was a degree of food wastage as well.

The outage affected, at least, Bathurst Road intersections with Cox Avenue, Lone Pine Avenue and the crossing at Kinross Wolaroi School, along with lights at the intersection of the Southern Feeder Road and Forest Road.

Lights at the intersection between the Southern Feeder Road and Forest Road were flashing amber, with traffic control crews at the intersections managing the flow.

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