Community gets power restored; tree branch catches fire

Power restored to Orlo Vista community for less than hour before fire

ORLO VISTA, Fla. – While many people in Central Florida are still without power, one community had quite the tease Saturday afternoon when its power came back on, but only for less than an hour.

"It came back (at) 2 o'clock this afternoon, and then it went back off again," Wilner Labady said.

Peggy King and Labady, who live in Orlo Vista, had been without power since Sunday night. The neighborhood was without all the things usually taken for granted, like air conditioning or a cool refrigerator.

So things were looking up when power crews showed up Saturday. That is, until neighbors say they saw a tree branch catch fire on one of the lines shortly after power was restored.

"It caused a fire," King said. "They had to call the fire department and put out the fire and it made the power go off again. So now the power lines are trying to get repaired by the power company contracted from out of state. We're happy to see them."

For the people in this part of Orlo Vista, this story does have a happy ending: Power was restored again at 5 p.m., three hours after the fire started.


About the Author:

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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