A house fire knocked out power for thousands across Allegan and Barry counties Tuesday
More than 9,000 Consumers Energy customers lost electricity Tuesday afternoon after a house fire on Saddler Road in Orangeville Township, with the largest outages concentrated northeast of Otsego.
The outages covered the Shelbyville, Orangeville, and northern Prairieville areas, according to Consumers Energy.
Fire crews investigate cause
News Channel 3 crews confirmed the outages stemmed from a structure fire on Saddler Road, according to a report by Donny Ede and Ava Ray for WWMT.
Firefighters have since cleared the scene, but continue to investigate what caused the fire.
A Consumers Energy spokesperson said the cause of the fire remains under investigation and the utility is cooperating with investigators, according to Katherine Connolly for WOODTV.
Power restored by evening
Consumers Energy restored electricity to most customers within about two hours. The utility said all remaining customers should have service back by 8 p.m.
According to the Consumers Energy outage map, more than 3,000 customers were still without power just before 5 p.m. The number had dropped from the earlier peak of 9,000.
Power was fully restored as of 8 p.m., according to WWMT.
What Otsego residents should know
The outages were centered south of the Yankee Springs Recreation Area, north of Plainwell, and west and southwest of Hastings, according to the WWMT report.
Residents in the Otsego area who experienced the outage can check current status on the Consumers Energy outage map.
The fire investigation is ongoing. No injuries were reported, and no arrests have been announced.