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Transformer Fire Knocks Out Power Again in North Berkshire

Crews were working around a damaged transformer at the Adams substation to restore power to some 18,000 customers.

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — A problem at the Adams substation has knocked out power across northern Berkshire County — again.

And again.

(We kept trying to update this story but the power kept going out!)

Power was lost around 11:30 a.m. Tuesday and then came on again around 1:30 only to go back out a few minutes later.

National Grid spokesman Jake Navarro said  the 18,700 customers who lost power Tuesday morning are in Adams, North Adams, Williamstown, Hancock, Florida, Cheshire and Clarksburg.

Nearly 600 customers across  the state line in Stamford, Vt., were also out, according to Green Mountain Power.

By 3 p.m., the power appeared to be mostly restored in North Adams but areas of North Berkshire were still out, according National Grid's outage map. About 5,000 customers in Williamstown, 4,500 in Clarksburg and Florida, and 4,400 in the city's south end and Adams and Cheshire were still being restored. Stamford had power restored.

Both Williams College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts were slowly bringing some of their buildings online.

Scanner reports indicated another blown transformer and crews were called to a substation near Mohawk Forest in North Adams.

Navarro said National Grid had attempted "several solutions that we believed would restore power (at about 1:30 and 2:30), but unfortunately they have only worked temporarily."

He said crews were continuing to work as quickly as possible at the substation to restore — and maintain — power.

Twice during the afternoon power flickered for a minutes before being lost again. After the second time, police determined to stay at the intersections where they had been directing traffic — and only minutes later they were back at work.

Walmart and a number of other stores were closed, as was Adams Town Hall.

An explosion at the station on May 9 knocked out power in those same towns for seven hours.

BCC Sees $1M in Federal Funds for Trades Academy

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff
05:15PM / Thursday, April 09, 2026

U.S. Rep. Richard Neal secured $995,000 to begin design and construction of the academy. The congressman had earlier attended the Norman Rockwell Museum business breakfast, which celebrated Laurie Norton Moffatt's 49 years leading the institution.

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Berkshire Community College was awarded nearly $1 million in federal funds to support a Trades Academy. 

On Thursday, U.S. Rep. Richard Neal visited the college to highlight the $995,000 he secured through congressionally directed spending. Executive Director of Workforce and Community Education Linda Clairmont said BCC can be a destination for adults who want to learn a skilled trade. 

"I want to join up with the amazing work that Taconic and McCann (vocational high schools) are doing to prepare people for these really specific skills, helping people become confident professionals with a direct path to high-wage, high-demand jobs," she explained. 

"And we're also addressing the labor shortage that exists in this county, around the state, and around the country, in the skilled trades." 

The federal funding will support a feasibility study of an existing vacant building on campus, as well as the evaluation and abatement of any hazardous materials at the location, because it was once a power plant. 

BCC will dip its toe into the skilled trades with its first HVAC training program, for which it received $1.2 million from the state in support. The $995,000 in federal funds will go toward creating the academy in a building located on the main campus, and the HVAC heat pump training program will be funded by the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center. 

The $1 million in federal monies will get the college to construction documents, maybe fund some construction, and help identify the necessary equipment and other learning space needs for a skilled trade, Clairmont reported. 

The funding is part of more than $14 million in congressionally directed spending secured by the congressman to support economic development, workforce training, and community infrastructure across the Berkshires.

Neal said there are about 6.5 million jobs in the United States that go unanswered every day.