Squirrel avoids animal deterrents, causes power outage to large portion of Kettering

Roughly 4,300 people in the Kettering and Oakwood area were without power last night all thanks to a squirrel, according to the AES Ohio spokeswoman, Kelly Millhouse.

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AES Ohio Customers lost service at about 5:20 p.m. when a squirrel managed to avoid animal deterrents and trip off one of the AES switchers, Millhouse said. The squirrel did not survive.

To prevent animals from getting to the equipment, AES built wire cage squirrel traps and placed them on the top of the poles, the spokeswoman said.

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They also built a space for large birds, covers and fences in an attempt to keep the animals away to avoid outages and protect the animals, Millhouse said.

AES sent crews out immediately and within 20 minutes after receiving the call more than half of the customers power was restored, according to Millhouse.

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By 7:20 p.m. the number of customers affected dropped to 781, according to the AES online outage map.

Power has been restored to those affected in the area, Millhouse said.

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