Blown arrestor cuts power to the Fairfax campus

George Mason University’s Fairfax campus experienced a power failure Saturday afternoon. A blown arrestor in the metering box is reported to be the cause of the outage, according to a representative from the electric power company.

Students, faculty and staff – and alumni on campus for the weekend’s Alumni Weekend festivities – were put in the dark for about an hour and 30 minutes, from approximately 2:40 p.m. until Dominion Virginia Power authorities returned power to the campus at about 4:10 p.m.

Several events moved locations or improvised when the lights went out. Connect2Mason also reports four instances of individuals getting stuck in elevators, including those in the Shenandoah, Dominion and Potomac Heights residential halls.

Mary-Earle Farrell, director of development for the College of Health & Human Services, was trapped in an elevator in classroom building Robinson B.

“I was terrified,” said Farrell, who remained stuck in the elevator for a reported hour and fifteen minutes until firemen from the Fairfax County Fire Department arrived to unlock the doors and retrieve her.

“I want every police officer to have keys to open the elevators,” said Farrell. GMU Police Department officers, including Officer Brian E. Higgins, were available and responded to the scene, but unable to reach Farrell because of access restrictions.

According to Higgins, the police department “was flooded with calls.”

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Broadside Editor-in-Chief Emily Sharrer contributed to this report.