Pineville assisted living facility evacuated following power outage

PINEVILLE, N.C. — More than 100 people at a Pineville assisted living facility were without power for nearly five hours on Saturday.

[PHOTOS: Pineville assisted living home evacuated]

Patients at The Laurels and The Haven in the Village at Carolina Place were evacuated onto Charlotte Area Transportation System buses and Medic casualty buses to cool off.

Fire officials said the temperature was about 80 degrees inside the cafeteria where residents waited for buses to arrive.

Officials said a transformer blew out and knocked a power line to the ground around noon, causing an outside fire.

Duke Energy cut the power to that line which cut power to the assisted living and memory assistance facility.

The backup generators did not work which caused them to evacuate patients into three CATS buses and two Medic casualty buses.

No one was injured, officials said.

Three patients on oxygen were supervised during the outage because they had a limited supply.

"Right now, crews are ensuring that all air conditioners, all oxygen, and all their services are restored before we start releasing crews,” said Walter Broadhurst, with the Pineville Fire Department.

Duke Energy reported 400 power outages in the area caused by damage to its equipment.

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