By Laurie Kirby

When power went out across town in the aftermath of Monday’s snowstorm – and the light plant’s generators were slow to restore temporary power due to a “load issue” – Hull’s Laurie Kirby ventured out to see how residents responded to the unexpected blackout.

The frozen morning in Hull began in the warm afterglow of victory – the New England Patriots tackling the snow and the Houston Texans on Sunday to clinch a berth in the AFC championship game with the Super Bowl in sight. While Tom O’Callahan clicked away on his computer in the Samoset area to tackle some work, the lights flickered like the Houston Texans and then clicked off; his computer powered down with a groan.

“We just lost power on Samoset,” he remarked. He wasn’t alone.

At approximately 1:10 p.m. on Monday (the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday), all power went out in all of Hull.

Swiftly, the Verizon auto-message popped on the cell phone alerting Verizon Fios customers, “We’ve detected a commercial power issue that may affect your Verizon services. For more info, please visit Verizon.com/outage.”

Within the hour, Hull Fire Chief Chris Russo posted on the Town of Hull Emergency Management Facebook page the following:

“Hi Everyone,

“We are aware the power is down townwide. Crews are responding from NGRID to locate the issue. This is involving Hull 1-2 outside of town. HMLP working to bring up the generators. More to come…”

The Hull Municipal Light Plant rents large backup generators from Milton CAT Power Systems in the event of a townwide outage, such as damage to National Grid’s feeder lines that bring power to Hull through Hingham. The $800,000 cost is tacked onto the monthly electric bill for ratepayers.

To date, the generators have smoothly fired up until whatever infrastructure problem (or falling tree in Hingham) could be remedied.

O’Callahan, with good humor on that chilly, powerless Monday, admitted that while the power outage was a pain, his work could wait, but he looked me straight in the eye and said, “I just wondered, does the town still have the generators? Are they gonna go up today?”

“Where are the generators?” asked a ruddy-complected man filling up at the Kenberma Food Mart and gas station on Nantasket Avenue to the two other men trying to work the pumps in the cold.

**GENERATING INTEREST:** With the power out all over town, Tony Mazza stopped by the Kenberma Food Mart and gas station to fill up his fuel containers to keep his generator going. [Laurie Kirby photo]

Tony Mazza of Hull was kneeling below one of the pumps, trying to funnel the gas into several bright red, five-gallon plastic fuel containers.

“My wife was cooking and the power just went out! I’m trying to fill up some tanks here to run my generator and see how long the power runs,” a focused Mazza said.

Reporter: “You have a generator? I thought Hull had a generator.”

Mazza: “They do!”

Another voice, the man with the rosy cheeks, piped in from pump #2, “There are generators,” he emphasized as the gas flowed into his vehicle’s tank.

I turned to face him. Reporter: “Why aren’t they on?”

Answer: “That’s an excellent question; you should ask the ah, light power company that.”

Reporter: “Are you paying for those generators?”

Answer: “Yes, I am. I am not happy.”

But what all the gentlemen shared in conversation, seemingly strangers each, was how come the generators hadn’t flipped on yet? Compared to the outages “B.G.” (before generators), one hour was nothing. And the several inches of fresh snow promised nature’s freezer for any souring milk. But, the question, all jokes aside, was a serious one. What had caused the delay in at least two of the generators?

On Facebook, locals were chiming in.

Mike Lutz wrote, “Better be turned on by the time we get home at 5…” getting a heart emoji for his missive.

Mimi Holden asked, “Do we have to wait until they find the source before the generators take over? “ and Jessica Digan asked “Y” the town generator hadn’t “kicked in yet” and “thank God I have my own but yet we are still stuck paying for urs mmmmmmmmm.”

A drive down Nantasket Avenue became perilous; none of the lights were working, and intersections became a cat-and-mouse-game. Hull seemed eerily quiet. Daddy’s seemed to have its generator groove on, firing up its own backup juice. The Nantasket Beach Resort would soon follow. Lights began to hesitantly flicker in the business block near the beach.

Chief Russo, true to his word to update residents again on FB sometime between 3:19 and 3:42 p.m. on Monday:

“Hi Everyone: The power issue was found off Hobart St. in Hingham with Hull 1-2 compromised.

“NRGID has crews on scene and working for the past hour plus to get the lines cleared and back up from tree damage.

“Our HMLP crews along w/CAT Gen. crews have been working to get the townwide generators up and on line but have encountered a load issue slowing the process and protocols to safely energize Hull 1-2 on our side. Please plan for 2-4 more hours of interrupted services as crews continue to work on this matter on Hobart Street restoring Hull 1-2.”

It indeed was a Hingham tree. Rob from Hull pondered whether it might make more sense to cut down the trees near the infrastructure and get rid of the need for generators outright.

Down at the generator site, men in hard hats talked quietly and went into the trailer to confer. A Milton CAT service truck rolled in, along with several black SUVs. No one was willing to be interviewed for this story, but it was evident that there was quiet frustration and focus.

Two calls out to the executive office at Milton CAT have not been returned, but a woman at the office did speak to me on the phone briefly and said she understood, with even colder weather in the forecast, why residents would be concerned about the heat being off and the generators coming on.

**SMOKE SIGNAL:** When National Grid’s supply lines in Hingham failed on Monday, the entire town was plunged into darkness. The light plant’s rented generators along George Washington Boulevard, shown here with some smoke billowing out of one section, did not restore temporary power quickly enough for some of the residents we encountered around town. [Skip Tull photo]

At 4:20 p.m. Monday afternoon, the computers groaned back to life, the flights flickered back on, and the heat blasted along the lower-letter streets and beyond to the Point.

Word on the street is that the generators kicked back in sooner on the other half of Hull.

Hull Light Operations Manager Mike Schmidt, in an email response to my question about why that had occurred, wrote, “The customers closest to the generators were energized first. The Village was last to be energized by the generators only due to the layout of our distribution system.”

Hull was now on full generator power.

At around 7:10 p.m., Tom’s computer whooshed off again, along with all the lights, and the heat. Hull was “switching over” and putting the generators to bed. It took all of 10 minutes.

On Tuesday, January 20, at just after 10 a.m., Hull Town Hall issued a press release summarizing the town’s experience:

“On Monday, January 19, 2026, the Hull Municipal Light Plant (HMLP) responded swiftly and effectively to a power outage affecting the entire town, triggered by the loss of both National Grid transmission lines (H1 and H2) serving Hull.

“At approximately 1:20 p.m., the National Grid Dispatch notified HMLP that both lines had tripped out on fault. Hull Light linemen were immediately dispatched to verify conditions on the local system, confirming that both incoming feeds were out. The outage was attributed to tree damage on Hobart Street in Hingham, which impacted the National Grid lines.

“In accordance with established emergency protocols, preparations for generator transfer began without delay. Milton CAT was contacted to dispatch technicians to Hull to assist with startup and operation of the town’s backup generators. The transfer process was safely and collaboratively coordinated among Milton CAT technicians, Hull Light personnel, and National Grid.”

When asked why it took so long for Hull residents to see the light, Schmidt, the light plant’s operations manager, replied by email: “Thanks for reaching out. Please see attached press release. The generators did run for four hours yesterday. It could take up to three hours to transfer the entire town to generator power.”

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