Offcials at PSEG are in the process of restoring electric to thousands of residents who lost power due to a utility hole fire that occurred on the borders of East Orange and Orange Thursday night.
According to offcials, it happened just before 11 p.m., in the vicinity of Harrison Street and Central Avenue where firefighters received reports of a manhole fire.
Arriving crews immediately requested PSEG to the scene to shut down electricity to the manhole so that firefighters could extinguish the blaze.
Offcials at PSEG turned off a portion of the grid that extended to homes in both towns to initiate their investigation.
As of 4:05 a.m., PSEG reported about 2,500 homes and businesses without power, with most of the outage existing in East Orange.
The cause of the manhole fire is under investigation.