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Around 1:30pm Saturday, patrons at the Baja Grill in the Village Commons Shopping Center were evacuated from the popular eatery after hearing three loud bangs. The restaurant manager announced the evacuation and urged everyone to move calmly and quickly out of the building. There was an orderly evacuation, no panic but lots of curiosity as to what caused the noise and the loss of electricity.
It didn’t take long to determine that the cause of the blackout was a blown transformer. The transformer was located underground in the back of the shopping center. A small fire developed, which was extinguished by the Smithtown Fire Department. According to Town of Smithtown Senior Fire Marshal, Nicholas Kefalos, everything was under control and there was no cause for alarm.
End of Story? Not exactly.
Between Citibank and Ace Hardware businesses were left without electricity. Some closed their doors and waited for the return of electricity. Three food venues were impacted by the loss of electricity. The Baja Grill, Manninos and Main Street Meats & Catering.
The business of food has a critical dependence on electricity. The preparation of food, cooking and the refrigeration of uncooked and prepared food are all electric dependent.
While Manninos had a refrigerated truck at their disposal MAIN STREET Meats & Catering did not. “The loss of electricity means we will lose a lot of our refrigerated stock. There is not much we can do. Insurance will cover some of our loss but that will take a long time. This is a big loss for us. I hope that the transformer can be replaced quickly but I just don’t see that it will happen quick enough to save the food in my store.” Ben Shor, Owner of MAIN STREET Meats & Catering.
LIPA was working to identify the model of the transformer with the hope that they would be able to replace it quickly. For Ben Shor it can’t happen quick enough.
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