Power outage closes Camden city offices, Rutgers

Power has been restored in Camden following a power outage that forced city hall and a number of other offices to close.

PSE&G spokeswoman Karen Johnson in an email wrote that an "equipment failure" at the company's Camden substation knocked out power for 2,300 customers. She said 1,600 customers, including City Hall and Rutgers University's Camden campus, were restored around 9:15 a.m. and the remaining 700 customers were back online around 10:15 a.m.

The outage also knocked out Internet and phone lines.

"The issue we had at city hall was that one of the transformer boxes did catch on fire," which sent smoke coming out of the basement Camden County, spokesman Dan Keashen told New Jersey 101.5  "They may want to get that area cleaned up before letting employees back in their offices."

Keashen said the Camden County Courthouse Building and the Board of Social Services Administration building were also closed by the outage.

Rutgers-Camden is closed until noon, according to the university's Facebook page. The Campus Center is available for shelter but has no power; off-campus classes are meeting as scheduled.

A senior health fair, which is scheduled for today, is a rain or shine event and will continue as scheduled from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

PSE&G said the incident is under investigation.