Outage kept some Idol fans in dark

By Tribune Staff
Wednesday, May 21, 2008 - 11:05:36 am CDT

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.

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baffled
May 21, 2008 11:21 AM
seriously 911 calls for American idol, people need to get a life.
American Idol
May 21, 2008 11:25 AM
Do you watch American Idol??? Didn't think so b/c if you did you'd understand.
Ummm
May 21, 2008 12:32 PM
It doesn't say anything about people calling BECAUSE of American Idol. It just says people called... Not everyone who called was an American Idol watcher...
use your brain
May 21, 2008 1:07 PM
People called in because they lost power, not because they were missing American Idol. However, a 911 call is not needed for a simple power outage!
Joseph P. Sokolovsky
May 21, 2008 2:14 PM
I would like thank the Dept of Utilities for getting the power back up so quickly.....however....in response to the above: (1) what was the emergency afterall the power was only out like a little over a hours, and (2)
I think you all have survived regardless of missing the final whatever of the "American Idiot."
Honestly, I can barely watch to occassional tv advertising of the "American Idiot," without vomitting?
Could it be one has to have a IQ well below 100 to watch such trash???
J B
May 21, 2008 2:33 PM
Really. Why would someone call 911, or the police at all for a power outage?

Call the Dept. of Utilities.

Do you think the cops can turn the power on and off?
Brian
May 21, 2008 3:12 PM
J B
It was not so bad that the cops were called for the power outage. 911 maybe, but the reg # was fine. No, its not the duty of police to get the power back on, but it was their job to direct traffic at the major intersections on Broad until the temp stops signs could be available from the dept of roads.
tv watcher
May 21, 2008 3:14 PM
just goes to show you how many idiots there are in fremont. call 911 for power outage? oh brother. of course when the people of fremont re-elect the same mayor over and over again i guess thats all we can expect.
KMG
May 21, 2008 3:44 PM
911 is for EMERGENCY only. You know, for those that are sick and really need help,as in dying. Come people, stay off of 911 and use it for real EMERGENCY calls only. What if there was a heart attack or a serious car accident and the informat could not get through because some of you flooding the 911 lines to report a simple power outage. THINK before you ACT!!!!!
Jake
May 21, 2008 4:04 PM
oh my god American Idol!

now all you need to do is tell someone that cares
just thinking
May 21, 2008 4:14 PM
First of all the cops can not turn the power back on HOWEVER they were able to control traffic when the stop lights went out, wouldn’t you notify authorities if you saw a non working traffic light, or would you just drive by thinking SWEET NO STOPING ON THIS ROAD!!! Come on.
Second don’t you think your utility bill is a little expensive for a transformer to be going out? People pay there outrageously expensive bill so that they can watch there television whatever it is they chose to watch.
Carl
May 21, 2008 7:37 PM
I suppose a power outage is news, depending on how extensive it was, but how is it news when people miss a TV show? Were there no other, more dire consequences to report?
jake
May 21, 2008 9:20 PM
the towers were without power as well and dont forget some of thoese people are on oxygen mechans and need the power to breath so i can see why they called 911 but other than that use the nonemergency line. its in the phone book or 411.
DUH
May 21, 2008 10:02 PM
I think the Fremont Tribune should report the news.Fremont Police had better things to do than answer 911 call for so-called stupid things!!!
Somewhere in your driver handbook I think it says when there are no working traffic lights treat those as a 4 way stop!!
People in Fremont seem to call 911 when they don't know who else to call!!
Come on People here's what I do For numbers I might need when there's a problem like no power I take a black marker and write right on the phone book cover in big letters "NO POWER Dial 727-2600, POLICE NON-emergency 727-2677,
Dex
May 21, 2008 10:39 PM
Maybe the transformer blew because of everyone in the area turning on the TV, DVR, surround sound system and any other electronic devise they could think of to enhance their American Idol viewing experience!!
Carl
May 22, 2008 4:09 PM
Dex said, "Maybe the transformer blew because of everyone in the area turning on the TV, DVR, surround sound system and any other electronic devise they could think of to enhance their American Idol viewing experience!!"

Kinda like putting lipstick on a pig, ain't it?
MY MY
May 23, 2008 12:13 PM
I hope and pray if I should every need assistant, EMERGENCY or NON EMERGECNY that none of you are there to decide who to call to help me....
People it's called SAFETY, we do have some people that don't pay attention?
Josh
May 23, 2008 2:41 PM
Missing American Idol is an emergency? Idiots! Put your remote control down and get a life.
Renee
May 23, 2008 3:37 PM
You guys are feeling awfuly rude today, is this because of all the rain we've had or are you all just that spitefull.
DUH
May 24, 2008 8:54 AM
Wow my plan worked,last night (FRI) my power went out. I went to my trusty phone book and right there on the cover was the power co. phone number. It just goes to show you I have a plan when there's now power at my house. Now all I have do is tell all the rest of Fremont!!!!
I didn't think for one minute to call the POLICE dept. or 911 to me that would be a "STUPID" thing to do on my part. However I guess I wasn't watching American Rejects AKA Idol