Salem Walmart closes after outage

SALEM -- The Walmart Store was closed for several hours due to a power outage that occurred at about 12:40 p.m. Wednesday.

The store was still closed at 6 p.m. when an associate said the power was restored but there wasn't a time frame to reopen.

"It will open as soon as we can," she said.

The store is a 24-hour super center.

High winds hit the area Wednesday, downing lines and knocking branches off trees.

Salem firefighters received two calls to the Walmart area, the first reporting a possible brush fire at 393 Cunningham Road.

Firefighters arrived at 12:45 p.m. and found a transformer had blown a fuse and there was no fire present.

Ohio Edison was notified, according to the report and advised they were in a "storm mode" and would respond when available.

Firefighters then received a call from Walmart regarding a power loss and possible power surge problems with the lights going on and off.

Salem Fire Department Capt. Shawn Mesler said it was a primary Ohio Edison line on Cunningham Road.

The fire and police departments placed vehicles on Cunningham Road to isolate the power from traffic.

Firefighters advised workers there was a loss of at least one phase of the building's power and further advised shutting down any store equipment that would have an electric motor as a power source to prevent any further damage to equipment.

The entire building was checked with employees and no hazards were located and associates advised the store would remain closed until power was restored.

The outage did not affect the Murphy USA gas station, except for a very brief surge and the plaza mall to the north of Walmart was also unaffected.

No injuries were reported.

lshields@salemnews.net