By LEAH WANKUM
Managing Editor

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) – A piece of KCP&L equipment malfunctioned at a substation on the west side of downtown Thursday afternoon, leaving most of the town and the University of Central Missouri campus without power for approximately 40 minutes.

KCP&L reported the malfunction at 3:04 p.m. at the substation located at the intersection of Warren and West Pine streets, which affected 4,583 customers. KCP&L, Warrensburg Fire Department and Johnson County Ambulance District personnel arrived on the scene shortly after the malfunction to determine the cause. Warrensburg police assisted in

PHOTO BY BRANDON BOWMAN / PHOTO EDITOR
Members of the Warrensburg Fire department cool off a transformer that had malfunction January 14th, Thursday at approximately 3:04 p.m.

directing traffic at intersections without power.

Doyle Oxley, assistant chief of the Warrensburg Fire Department, said a transformer in the substation shorted out. Smoke from a blown fuse continued to emit from the transformer more than half an hour after the power went out.

Mark Dawson, district community affairs manager for KCP&L’s east and southeast districts, said it’s not clear what caused the malfunction.

“There are a thousand things it can be, but it’s mechanical,” Dawson said. “What we’ll do now is go in and see what the damages are, see what we’re going to do.

“It does happen, and we try to minimize it. We have backups. That’s also why we have switching, so we can do this relatively fast.”

KCP&L reported that citywide power was restored at 3:43 p.m.