The Day the Lights Went Out at Cuesta

We all owe a lot to Terry Reece and his Physical Plant team. How would you like to be working with 12,000-volt electrical wires in pouring rain and high winds, trying desperately to restore power to the San Luis Obispo Campus before more classes are cancelled?

That’s where Terry, Sid Bartholow and the rest of the crew found themselves the weekend of October 16-17. The San Luis Obispo Campus lost power that Saturday and it was quickly restored. However, things went down again, with no power on Sunday. Classes were forced to be cancelled on Monday.

The crew worked most of the day Saturday and all day Sunday to isolate the problem, and all day Monday to bring the campus back online. Wearing rubber gloves and using “hot sticks,” the crew discovered two problem areas in the high voltage lines – a short between the 1,000 and 2,000 complexes and a short between the 1,000 complex and Old Campus.

These areas were quickly isolated as the rest of the campus was brought online Monday. Progress was slow due to what electricians call “inrush.” This means that more power is used starting something than using it. Buildings had to be brought online one at a time. Restoring power to all of the buildings – all at once – would have overloaded the system.