Substation fire leaves customers without power in Toms River
Aug 2023Published 2 Oct 2026
What happened
A fire started late on 20 August 2023 at the substation on Silverton Road in Toms River, New Jersey. The incident interrupted supply to about 9,900 customers served by Jersey Central Power & Light, including customers in Toms River and Lakewood. By 1:30 p.m. on 21 August most customers had been restored, but about 1,600 remained without power while repairs continued. The company estimated service would be restored by about 8 p.m. that day. The cause of the fire was not reported.
Lessons learned
- Damaged substation equipment may have to be isolated before repairs, and that work can interrupt service to customers who have already been restored.
- When restoration is expected to take most of a day, operators should say which areas remain off supply and when parts are expected to arrive.
- If the cause of a substation fire is not known at the time of the outage, the investigation should still be completed after supply is restored.
Source
Published 2026-10-02. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.