Brownouts at Heights of Collingswood

After overloaded generators darkened the building, borough leaders were going door-to-door at the "C" Tower of the Heights of Collingswood Thursday night, asking residents to limit their energy use until power could be restored.

Collingswood Mayor James Maley said that the outage is confined to the "C" tower, which he described as "the one building that is almost completely occupied.

"Even though management has done some pretty significant electrical upgrades, demand is the highest it's ever been," Maley told Patch. 

"Power is slowly coming back," he said. "If people are able to lower their energy use, that would help things get back up."

Update - 11:23 p.m.: The culprit is an electrical system overtaxed by one of the hottest weeks of the year, Maley said.

Maintenance crews and first responders are shutting down two elevators in the building as well as power to all the vacant units. Residents, mindful of the heat, were seen bringing water to some thirsty firefighters.

Other than residents of the Heights of Collingswood, the rest of the borough is not subject to the immediate energy conservation request.

Update - 12:08 p.m., July 19: According to Collingswood Fire Chief Keith Davis, power was restored to most of the occupied units in the "C" Tower before midnight Thursday.

"We got there around 11 or 11:30 and most of the building was back up," he said. 

Davis said that the power outage "was kicking the breakers off on the floors, and it finally hit the main and it shut the whole building down."

"Everything runs off the one power [source]," Davis said; "each unit doesn't have its own separate electrical."

Nonessential power was shut off in response, including in some vacant units in which property managers had been running air conditioners to cool them off before showing them.

Davis said that until the issues can be resolved more permanently—or until the weather breaks—residents of the "C" Tower should conserve energy wherever possible. 

He suggested unplugging appliances that are not in use and turning off lights in unoccupied rooms.

"I know it's hot out and people like air conditioners, but especially in the apartment complex, conserve energy," Davis said. 

Additional reporting by Lauren Burgoon.