Community Corner

UPDATED: Foxborough Fire Chief Confirms Town Will be Fully Restored of Power Wednesday Night

Here's the latest information regarding the power outages in Foxborough caused by Hurricane Sandy.

UPDATE (5:21 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31) - Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield finally delivered the news he has been waiting for since Monday night ... Foxborough will be fully restored of power by Wednesday night.

"We are completely up and running other than seven homes," Hatfield said.

The areas still without power as of 5 p.m. Wednesday are:

Find out what's happening in Foxboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

  • Old Colony Road
  • Hope Avenue

"Both of those roads had telephone poles destroyed," Hatfield said. "Both of those roads have new telephone poles and we are just waiting for a crew to come out and attach all the wires to it."

That is expected to happen later Wednesday night, which would restore power to the remaining seven homes without.

Find out what's happening in Foxboroughwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Hatfield's news came shortly after National Grid president Marcy Reed said the utility company was ahead of schedule on its original restoration estimates, which had Foxborough projected to be without power until Friday night.

Hatfield commended all the men and women at National Grid, especially National Grid's liaison to Foxborough, Tom Coughlin as well as Foxborough Fire Deputy Chief Steve Bagley for all the hard work and effort they put in to restoring the town.

"I commend National Grid, Tom Coughlin and Steven Bagley for their commitment to the town," Hatfield said. "I’m happy we are [nearly fully restored of power] and I appreciate the folks of Foxborough being patient and working with all of us to make this right."

UPDATE (1:44 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31) - Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield provided Foxborough Patch with the following update Wednesday afternoon:

  • Power has been restored to the trailer park on Route 1 off Washington Street; Lakeview Terrace and Lakeview Road
  • National Grid is still focused on restoring power to Wayne Drive, Colony Way, a section of Main Street and Morse Steet

"We are still moving forward," Hatfield said. "We are hopeful we might have it up and running Wednesday but we are not 100 percent sure."

Hatfield reported about 2 to 3 percent of the town remains without power as of Wednesday afternoon. National Grid is reporting that number to be 377 Foxborough customers without power as of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. National Grid's estimated restoration time remains at Friday, Nov. 2 by 11:59 p.m.

Hatfield said in addition to the power outage, his main concern is food that may have spoiled in residents' refrigerators.

"The biggest thing is the concern we have over spoiled food," Hatfield said. "With the power outages for some of our residents being a little longer than normal, we want them to take caution with their food in their refrigerator."

Hatfield stressed the importance of "when in doubt, throw it out."

"It's really for the safety of you and your families," Hatfield said.

UPDATE (10:05 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31) - National Grid is reporting the number of Foxborough residents without power is down to 371 as of 10:05 a.m. Wednesday morning but the estimated restoration time remains Friday Nov. 2 by 11:59 p.m.

UPDATE (5:28 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31) - National Grid has reported no change in Foxborough's power outage situation as of early Wednesday morning. The utility company says 452 residents remain without power and the estimated restoration time is still Friday, Nov. 2 by 11:59 p.m.

UPDATE (2:43 a.m., Wednesday, Oct. 31) - The good news is National Grid has finally released an estimated time of restoration for the 452 Foxborough residents still without power. The bad news is when the utility company is projecting to have power fully restored in town.

National Grid is reporting full restoration in Foxborough is expected to be completed by Friday, Nov. 2 at 11:59 p.m.

UPDATE (10:11 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 30) - As of 10:07 p.m., Tuesday, National Grid is reporting 452 power outages remain in Foxborough, which is up from the 344 reported just after 4:30 p.m. National Grid liaison to Foxborough, Tom Coughlin, provided the following update to Foxborough's Board of Selectmen at Tuesday's meeting, which began at 7 p.m.

"We do have somebody waiting for a crew on Old Colony Road and the reason why that is important is because that road is blocked at the end and we have to remove a tree that is on wires," Coughlin said. "The public safety concern there is we could not get fire equipment back there to fight a fire. That’s top priority.

"I have been trying to get some sort of [estimated time of restoration] of the trailer park and the majority of the customers on Lakeview Road and Wayne Road.

"The whole street on Wayne Road is out. They need to come in and hang new wires. All the wires are down.

"The [downed trees have been removed] and the Highway Department has been very helpful throughout the storm by clearing trees, which has really helped our crews a lot.

"Right now, there is one crew enroute to Old Colony Road. While that sounds bad [having only one crew in town], some of the towns around [Foxborough] have outages that are much worse so what they did is take the crews out of Foxborough and send them to another town.

"But we do have one crew coming to town. It’s not good news but it’s the honest truth."

Town Manager Kevin Paicos added that one senior citizen with critical needs remained without power Tuesday in Foxborough and was going to stay with friends and family.

UPDATE (5 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 30) - As of 4:40 p.m., Tuesday, 96 percent of all Foxborough residents have power, according to an official statement by the town of Foxborough. Of the remaining four percent, or 344 customers, most are clustered on Wayne Drive, Lakeview Road and the Route 1 trailer park. It is expected that those main roads and adjacent affected streets, should be back on in the next two to four hours. The remaining homes should be on early in the day Wednesday.

Normal trash schedules continue per usual.

UPDATE (3:35 p.m., Tuesday, Oct. 30) - As of 3:29 p.m. Tuesday, National Grid has lowered the amount of Foxborough residents without power to 344, according to the utility company's Summary Report of Power Outages.

That number is down from the 1,664 customers without power in Foxborough reported Tuesday morning by National Grid. 

Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield said the town identified the northwest section of town as the area most affected by power outages Tuesday, which includes customers on North Street, Mechanic Street, Oak Street and Beach Street.

National Grid has still not provided an estimation of when it expects the town to be fully restored of power, despite saying it would by Tuesday afternoon, but barring any setbacks, it appears the town will be fully restored by Tuesday night. 

This information will continue to be updated with information from the town and National Grid when information becomes available.

ORIGINAL POST - National Grid liaison for Foxborough, Tom Coughlin told town officials at an emergency meeting Tuesday morning at Town Hall that 10 to 15 percent of the town remains without power and an estimate for full restoration is expected to come later in the day.

Once that information is available, Foxborough Fire Chief Roger Hatfield and Town Manager Kevin Paicos will relay the message to Foxborough Patch, which will then publish it for the community.

“There will be another media release following an update from National Grid regarding restoration efforts,” Hatfield said.

Hatfield said the power outages have been identified mostly in the northwest area of town – North, Mechanic, Beach and Oak streets.

“We are waiting to get information from National Grid on when we should expect that power to be restored,” Hatfield said.

Other information Hatfield wanted to relay to the community:

  • Stay away from any downed wires for your safety.
  • If there are any questions to the quality of any food that has thawed in your refrigerator throw it away. “If in doubt, throw it out,” Hatfield said.

Unknown at this time is if this restoration effort will last multiple days, like it did in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Irene and "Snowtober." National Grid president Marcy Reed told Paicos to “prepare for that reality” Monday night but early discussions Tuesday have some officials confident power will be restored by Wednesday at the latest, with continued hope and effort that power will be fully restored Tuesday.

If this is a multiple day power outage for some residents, however, Hatfield said at the very least, the weather is on the town’s side.

“The weather is in our favor with moderate 60-degree weather and high 50s [Tuesday night],” said Hatfield. “The weather is on our side if this is a prolonged event.”

Residents without power who may need to charge their cell phones or other electronic devices can do so at Town Hall, which is open Tuesday, as well as the McGinty Room of the Foxborough Public Safety building.

Furthermore, the Invensys Foxboro YMCA, located at 67 Mechanic St. has reported it is open to those in the Foxborough community still without power.  

“As a community based organization, we want to extend the invitation for folks to come take a hot shower and power up their cell phones and other electronic devices,” said Dan Brennock, Invensys Foxboro YMCA director.

This article will be updated as soon as National Grid provides an estimate for full restoration.


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