The campus-wide power outage on Wednesday afternoon was the result of a transformer that blew out during a brushfire that ignited the area near Highway 351 and East Lowden.

The fire began around 1 p.m. in an area that once served as Abilene’s landfill. Shortly after the fire started, a transformer exploded, leaving several homes, businesses and the entire ACU campus without electricity. Power was restored to the area shortly after 1:30 p.m., and the perimeter of the fire was contained.

Large plumes of black smoke rise through the air in Abilene, near the ACU campus. The smoke was caused by a grass fire near Highway 351. (Optimist photo by Mandy Lambright)

By 2 p.m. the flames had consumed 75 acres. On Wednesday night the Abilene Fire Department reported in an information update that approximately 150 – 180 acres had been burned. In addition to the fire department, the Texas Forest Service responded with ground personnel, equipment, and aerial tankers. Fire fighters predicted the flames might last for several days. No injuries were been reported, but the fire department urged residents in the area to remain vigilant.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, but it was speculated to have been started by another transformer explosion. However, the transformer that caused the power outage exploded after the fire began.

The sudden loss of electricity was a shock to many people on campus.

“I was in Core and we were all sitting there just talking at the beginning of class and then a loud noise sounded and the electricity shut off,” said Rachel Easley, a sophomore pre-dental major from Belton.

The blackout occurred as many people were in the middle of lunch, said Nancy Lozano, a cashier in the Bean.

“Our kitchen went totally dark,” Lozano said. “People were still coming in so we continued to serve them. I wrote their [student identification] numbers down and did it like that until the lights came back on.”

Lozano could only describe students’ reaction to the sudden plunge into darkness as “Woah!”

ACU Police Chief Jimmy Ellison said the department initially believed campus’ loss of electricity was due to a simple power failure.

“We quickly learned that not only did the main campus lose power but a large surrounding area lost power,” Ellison said. “We learned almost simultaneously that there was a large grass fire off of Lowden and Highway 351.”

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Ellison said many people became more concerned about the power failure when they noticed the billowing smoke that could be seen from campus.

“We began to be inundated with calls about ‘Is the fire on campus? Is that what’s knocked the power out? Do we need to evacuate the campus?'” Ellison said. “Our roll then became, from an emergency management standpoint, to alert the campus community that it was simply a power outage caused by a brush fire off campus, and we did that via ACU ALERT.”

Students who subscribed to ACU ALERT received a text message or email informing them of the situation shortly after the power was restored.

Ellison said there was never a direct threat to the campus. He credited the Abilene Fire Department with their early arrival and admitted that, had the wind been stronger, the fire could have been more dangerous.

Ellison advised everyone to remain calm in events like power outages and encouraged students and faculty to call the ACU Police Department if they have any questions. He reminded the student body that a large number of people on campus are not enrolled in ACU ALERT and are not benefitting from the updates sent out through that system.

“I think this is another good reminder that everyone needs to register with ACU ALERT,” Ellison said. “It’s free, it’s easy and it ensures that you get emergency information.”