A downed wire on Main Street in West Middlesex cut power for more than an hour to 2,000 Pennsylvania Power Co. customers Friday morning in the borough and surrounding area.

The downed line was due to equipment failure that may have been caused by a previous lightening strike or a utility pole being bumped by a vehicle, said Randy Coleman, area manager for Penn Power. Utility crews had to disconnect adjacent circuits in order to complete repairs. The outage occurred around 10 a.m. and power was restored shortly before 11:30.

At about the same time electrical equipment that operated a fluorescent light at Black's Market in West Middlesex burned causing smoke and another piece of electrical equipment that operates a dryer at the Super 8 Motel in Shenango Township had a problem creating smoke there, Coleman said.

"They both happened to be on circuits we were having problems with,'' Coleman said. "I can't tell you with any degree of confidence if these two incidents were related to the outage.''

Employees and shoppers at Black's Market Place in West Middlesex were forced to evacuate at about 10 a.m. Friday.

Debbie Smith, produce manager at the store, said "it just smells a little in there right now."

Store owner Keith Black, who stood alongside employees outside guessed the problem had something to do with a power surge. On Main Street in West Middlesex, police directed traffic between West Middlesex Presbyterian Church and Cemetery Road due to a downed line, said Southwest Mercer County Regional Interim Chief Douglas Long.