Power outages began occurring on campus at 9:15 a.m. due to “breaker issues” at Tucson Electric Power, according to Chris Kopach, assistant vice president of Facilities Management.
The Tucson Electric Power substation encountered multiple wires that pack rats have gotten to, resulting in shortages, Kopach said. TEP notified Facilities Management that they will transfer power that runs into the UA campus to their substation in Irvington, Ariz. with the goal of eliminating the power bumps that have been occurring on campus, he added.
Power outages occurred in the Student Union Memorial Center, the Park Student Union, the Manuel T. Pacheco Integrated Learning Center and the UA Main Library.
TJ Venne, a journalism senior, was in the ILC this morning when the center “legitimately blacked out,” he said. All of the computers died and a siren eventually went off because librarians propped open doors to have sunlight come through, he said, but after five minutes, everything had restarted and the lights came back on.
Facilities Management Utilities and Electrical Services are working diligently with TEP to resolve the issue, according to Kopach.
“Were trying to get everything squared away,” Kopach added.
At 11:50 a.m., the UA announced that power should be restored to all parts of campus.