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A squirrel that "touched the wrong thing" at an east Tulsa substation caused a power outage affecting thousands of residents as well as three schools Friday morning.

About 5,500 customers were without power, according to the Public Service Company of Oklahoma's outage map.

East Central, Tulsa M.E.T. and ECDC-Reed also lacked power, TPS spokesman Chris Payne said.

PSO spokesman Ed Bettinger said the squirrel touched the wrong thing at a substation on North Mingo Road, causing the outage.

The squirrel likely is "beyond charred," he said. "I'm sure the squirrel probably didn't know what hit it."

The power was restored after under an hour.

"We put all kinds of animal guards on our equipment that occasionally these critters find a way to circumvent," Bettinger said.

Kyle Hinchey 918-581-8451 kyle.hinchey@tulsaworld.com

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