DTE Energy: More than 10,000 without power in Royal Oak

DTE brings 10,000 customers down in Royal Oak for safety reasons after substation fire

DETROIT – DTE Energy says it is continuing to work to restore power Wednesday after 10,000 customers lost power due to a fire at a substation.

The fire started Tuesday night and the utility company said it cut power to its customers in the 13 Mile Road and Woodward Avenue area as a precaution. Many businesses in the area have been forced to closed.

DTE said it is expecting to have at least 6,500 customers back up by the end of Wednesday and the rest on Thursday.

"It's really hot," said Jamie Bliss, a resident impacted by the power outage. "We haven't opened our refrigerator because we're trying to keep it cool in there, trying to keep our food good."

The National Shrine of the Little Flower held two morning masses in candle light this morning, and sent the staff home after services.

"The rectory is hot and muggy and sticky so we sent the staff home. They can't do anything on the computers and the telephone system doesn't work," said Monsignor William Easton.

The Royal Oak school district also is closed.

Some residents even hooked up their neighbor's home to generators to keep some of the power going.

DTE said it hadn't exactly pinpointed the cause of the fire but said excessive heat may have contributed to an equipment malfunction, which sparked the fire.

Be sure to stay on top of the outages by referencing DTE's outage map.

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