Outage kept some Idol fans in dark

It was an American Idol fan’s worst nightmare.

Just four minutes into the top-rated TV show’s final night of competition, screens in most of the north and northwestern parts of Fremont went black due to a power outage.

Lt. Jeff Elliott said Fremont Police received 23 calls to 911 and 37 public service calls starting at 7:04 p.m. Tuesday.

Officers were dispatched for traffic control at the intersections of 23rd and Broad streets, 16th and Broad streets and 16th and Bell streets before temporary stop signs could be put up.

Power was back on at

8:18 p.m., but it was too late for those Idol fans.

The Department of Utilities said the power outage was due to the transformer in substation C going out. It was out until power to the area could be transferred to another grid.