NJ news: Sayreville power outage blamed on bird that dropped fish on transformer

Aug 23, 2023

This was a real bird-brained move.

A bizarre mishap is being blamed for a power outage in a New Jersey town over the weekend.

Jersey Central Power and Light crews said a fish was found in an electrical transformer in Sayreville on Saturday. The fish landing on the transformer caused it to explode, knocking out power for some time.

It is believed that a bird dropped it while flying overhead. Police later released a sketch of the bird suspect, along with a tongue-in-cheek press release that memorialized the fish, which they named "Gilligan," and asked residents to be on the lookout.

"Please let us not forget the victim in this senseless death. Gilligan was a hard working family man. He was a father to thousands of children," the police department said in a Facebook post. "The suspect was last seen flying South. If you see him do not try to apprehend him. Although he isn’t believed to be armed he may still be very dangerous. If you have any information in this case please contact Det. John Silver who handles all of our fish cases."