A slowly spreading power outage sent University students searching for candles and flashlights Sunday night and plunged Atherton Hall, East Henderson and White Buildings into near-darkness for more than five hours.

The Office of Physical Plant was alerted to the blackout when a circuit breaker at the West Penn Power Co., 2800 E. College Ave., was tripped at 7:05 p.m. Reports of "electrical arcing," or sparks, in a manhole near Henderson Building spurred a search for the source of the power failure, said Paul Ruskin, the energy conservation program coordinator.

At about 10:19 p.m. technicians from OPP attempted to re-route power from the Ag Hill Power Sub-station to the buildings, hoping to restore electricity.

"The first priority is to get power to the residence halls back on line," Ruskin said.

Soon after workers tried to restore power, fuses in a transformer located behind the Cooper/Hoyt halls were blown. That caused the South, Centre and Pollock halls to lose power as well.

The cause of the power outage has been attributed to what OPP called "potheads," a type of ceramic insulating device. Ruskin described the devices as being "old-fashioned."

The potheads responsible for the initial outage are located in White Building, and were installed when the building was built in 1938. Ruskin said the potheads have an average life expectancy of 25 to 30 years. In this case, they lasted 57 years.

"They last a long time, but apparently not forever. You get corrosion over a period of time, and some of the components in the manhole had been there for quite some time," Ruskin said. "They (OPP) don't have the funding to pull up everything that's older. . . . They can't just go and replace whole systems."

The potheads are being replaced with more modern devices, he said.

While each of the 22 dorms were without electricity at one point or another during the night, they were equipped with some form of emergency power. This backup power allowed hall lights, exit signs and other crucial systems to stay on.

"We had absolutely no light for about 20 to 25 minutes, and then the emergency power kicked in," said Steven Cassio (junior-journalism), who lives in Hartranft Hall.

Cassio said the lights were on in the hallways and stairwells, but nowhere else.

"I almost fell down the steps because someone pulled the fire alarm about 10 minutes after the blackout," he said.

Ryan Biricocchi (junior-biology), a resident assistant in Atherton Hall, was concerned about the safety of the students in the building.

"I had to let students know that OPP wanted residents to unplug their light bulbs and appliances because they were expecting a power surge, like lightning, when the electricity came back," Biricocchi said.

In other halls, students were more relaxed. Some students took the opportunity to play cards or sing with friends.

"Everyone was really calm about it," said Tara Alvarez (senior-mechanical engineering), a resident of McElwain dorm.

By 11:30 p.m., an 11-person team of OPP technicians began "phasing in" the dorms, beginning with the Pollock area. With the exception of White Building, Centre and South halls had power by 12:15 a.m.

But Ruskin expressed doubts about the finality of the repairs.

"Just because the lights are back on doesn't mean everything's okay. You still need to test things," Ruskin said.