Emergency Generator Worked as Intended at San Gorgonio Hospital During Outage

San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital's emergency generator worked as intended Tuesday during a power outage that left more than 17,000 residents in Beaumont, Banning, Cabazon and Whitewater without power, a hospital representative said in a statement.

"At approximately 12:02 p.m. on Tuesday, December 11, 2012, San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital experienced a loss of power due to an outage that affected several portions of the Pass Area," hospital marketing director Molly Ellis said.

"The Hospital’s emergency generator immediately went into effect, and patient care throughout the Hospital continued seamlessly, with no interruption," Ellis said. "In addition, backup communication systems were put into place. Power was restored at approximately 2:54 p.m."

Patient care at San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital was not interrupted, Ellis said.

Some residents of Beaumont, Banning and Cabazon reported their electricity had been restored as of 3 p.m. Tuesday.

Susan Cox, an Edison spokeswoman, said power was restored to more than 17,000 customers affected in Beaumont, Cherry Valley, Banning, Cabazon and Whitewater as of 2:59 p.m. Dec. 11.

The cause of the outages was under investigation, Cox said. The outages coincided with a freeway fire in Beaumont and two fires in Banning, Cal Fire Division Chief Kevin Gaines said in a video interview with Banning-Beaumont Patch.

San Gorgonio Memorial Hospital is a 77-bed facility at 600 North Highland Springs Ave. in Banning. The hospital was established in 1951.

For more information about the hospital call (951) 845-1121 or visit www.sgmh.org.

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