ALTUS - Something squirrelly happened at the electric substation in southwest Altus this morning, shutting off the lights in about one fourth of the town.

“He's no longer with us,” said Electric Superintendent Jerry Carter in remembrance of the now deceased squirrel that explored the hot line between the circuit switcher and transformer shortly before 8 a.m., creating a path of current from the line to the ground and activating the shut-off switch.

The squirrel, Carter said, “got in exactly the wrong spot,” but happily, on the other hand, the switcher did exactly what it was supposed to do: It opened up and cut the current to an area encompassing central and southwest Altus for about 15 minutes until workers were able to determine the problem and flip the switch back on.

The half million dollar transformer at what is called the Nona substation, Carter explained, includes four 13,000 volt circuits fed by a 69,000-volt transmission line owned by American Electric Power and operated by the Public Service Co. of Oklahoma.

Carter said his office received a few calls about the shut-off, but, besides the now defunct rodent, no other harm to people or property was reported.