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Staten Island suffers power outage after fire at Con Ed substation

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The outage comes on the heels of Manhattan’s wide-spread Saturday blackout

An eastern swath of Staten Island lost power overnight Tuesday after a fire at a Con Edison substation.
Max Touhey

Parts of Staten Island suffered a power outage Tuesday evening when a fire ignited at a Con Edison substation—the outage comes just five days after a crippling power failure swept the west side of Manhattan, said a Con Ed spokesperson.

Some 2,000 customers in New Dorp, Grant City, and the Oakwood sections of the borough loss power when a fire broke out at a Railroad Avenue substation just after 6 p.m., according to FDNY and the utility company.

Two generators kicked in to support the system as crews worked through the night to restore power. The lights were back on for all customers as of 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, the Con Ed spokesperson said. The fire’s cause is under investigation, but officials do not believe the incident was heat related.

The loss of power struck Staten Islanders less than a week after equipment failure triggered a massive blackout on Manhattan’s west side that left more than 70,000 customers without power in one of the densest regions of the city.

Although the two outages were not heat related, Con Edison officials are gearing up for a sweltering heat wave this week that officials fear could lead to outages.