Biola’s campus was without power and Internet for approximately 40 minutes Monday during a citywide blackout. The power failed around 12:20 p.m. and was restored to some buildings beginning shortly after 1:00 p.m. At 1:10 p.m., students were informed via Biola’s Everbridge cell phone emergency notification system that power had been fully restored to all of campus.

According to the City of La Mirada Public Works department, the outage originated at one of Southern California Edison’s major substations. SCE is the electric utilities provider for La Mirada and Biola. The department also said that SCE was able to restore power to much of La Mirada by rerouting certain electrical lines, which also allows maintenance employees to safely work on repairs.

Chris Reyes, Biola’s environmental systems manager, said that an eyewitness who lives near the substation reported seeing a transformer blow out, but SCE has yet to confirm that that was the cause of the outage.

Biola’s emergency response team had prepared to implement emergency measures, but the power returned before they needed to do so. In crisis situations, the team coordinates with Campus Safety, facilities services, human resources and Residence Life to communicate with Biola students and employees.

During the outage, one Biola employee was temporarily trapped in a Welch elevator, Campus Safety public information officer Justin Shelby said. However, no other major issues arose from the outage.

The Production Center, which operates on its own power grid, was not affected, and the Block apartments were without Internet, but did not lose electricity.

Reyes said that SCE estimates all power will be restored to La Mirada by 4:15 p.m.

Clarke Finney contributed to this report.