05/03/2007
Homes in East Windsor evacuated; town's assistance questioned
By:Kory Loucks , Journal Inquirer
EAST WINDSOR - Some residents on Main Street were temporarily evacuated from their homes Wednesday after an transformer failed, officials said.
Selectman Thomas Sinsigallo said residents on Main Street in Broad Brook section of town were evacuated from their homes sometime after 3 p.m. Wednesday.
Sinsigallo said the town didn't provide services to those affected.
"Everyone wants to know where emergency management was?" Sinsigallo said. "Residents are very upset. There was no help. When they were evacuated from Main Street, there were no blankets offered, no chairs, no food, nothing."
"They had to sit over in a parking lot for two hours," Linda Sinsigallo, who serves on the Police Commission, said. "Blaine Simpkins was given a big raise, and he was nowhere to be found."
Simpkins is the town's head of emergency management.
Linda Sinsigallo said about three houses were evacuated because there was concern that a transformer might explode.
From Depot Street to Church Street, no traffic could pass through, Thomas Sinsigallo said.
Some people got their power went back at 7 p.m., but others didn't get their power back on until 4 a.m. today, Thomas Sinsigallo said.
Police Sgt. Jeffrey Reimer said a transformer on a utility pole malfunctioned, and the pole had to be replaced.
Reimer said the cause of the transformer failure was unknown. "There were just a couple of houses evacuated," the sergeant said. "It was not a major incident."
Connecticut Light & Power representatives could not be reached for comment this morning.
"Our private-duty officers were done around 3 this morning," Reimer said.
"It was really a long, drawn-out affair, because of the transformer and the pole had burnt through and was energized," Simpkins said.
Simpkins, who is also the town's fire marshal, was driving a fire truck at the time of the incident.
"I honestly don't know what happened with the people. Some people who were evacuated were sitting in chairs," he said.
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