Fresno, Clovis power outage causes mayhem for graduates, guests

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- If there was one place you did not want to be Wednesday afternoon, it was outside.

The scorching sun shined bright on guests waiting to go inside the Save Mart Center for Hoover High School's graduation.

Many of them forced to spend more time glistening in the heat after a massive power outage shut the building down.

The blackout left more than 22,000 customers without power from Northeast Fresno to East Central Fresno and into parts of Clovis.

PG&E says a circuit breaker at the transmission substation near Bullard and First overheated, causing the widespread outage.

An outage that sparked slight panic for workers at the Save Mart Center.

"It was a tough decision," "It's like what do we do we keep hanging out."

That is what Peter Davies did, but at his apartment complex nearby. He says the pool is what saved him from his non-air conditioning unit.

"It was the only way to survive," he said.

But surviving was tough for Hino Oishi. The Campus Pointe restaurant had to close down with more than 20 customers inside.

"There was no power to cook our food," "We did lose some money."

Within three hours, crews got everything back on which was perfect timing for Tim Carey.

He was anxiously waiting at the Save Mart Center holding a big secret from his family about his daughter giving the valedictorian speech.

"I was stressing i couldn't keep that secret overnight if something delayed we have wait till tomorrow i can't keep the secret," he said.

Fresno State closed its campus at 2 p.m. because of the outage. The campus will remain closed until 7 a.m. on Thursday.