Galion residents were left in the dark for nearly four hours when a power outage occured on Monday.

Power went out at about 11:53 a.m. for the city and nearby communities, but the outage continued in Galion for nearly four hours until it was restored to most customers before 4 p.m. the same day, according to city officials. Galion Mayor Tom O’Leary said there was equipment failure with a transmission line on the east side of the city.

The city of Galion provides its residents with electricity, purchased from the Columbus-based American Municipal Power Inc. The city also pays Ohio Edison, a subsidiary of Akron-based FirstEnergy, for the use of its transmission lines to direct that power to Galion residents.

It’s unclear how many people were affected by the outage. O’Leary said the city serves 6,000 electric users. And FirstEnergy spokesman Doug Colafella said the city as a whole equals just one of the 3,400 Ohio Edison customers affected by the outage.

Residents lost their electricity because a cross guard at the top of the ulity pole had failed, causing the conductor and connected wires to drop, Colafella said. A crew from the company was dispatched to the scene and worked with the Galion Electric Line Department to isolate the cause.

A majority of the power for Ohio Edison customers was restored from other sources by 12:15 p.m., but it took longer for power to be restored in the Galion area because the transmission line is the main feed for Galion power, Colafella said.

He would not disclose the exact location of where the wire came down and that Ohio Edison is investigating the cause of the outage.

Galion Communications Director Matt Echelberry said citizens had notified Galion police that a power line was down behind 8th Avenue. FirstEnergy inspects the condition of the equipment via helicopter, he added.

During the power outage, Galion police responded to one minor vehicle accident with no reported injuries at Portland Way North and Carter Drive, Echelberry said.