Situations that need action now
If you are seeing any of the following, treat it as urgent rather than something to monitor.
- A burning or fishy smell from an outlet, switch, or the panel
- Sparking, arcing, or visible scorch marks
- Smoke from any electrical device or the panel itself
- A panel that is hot to the touch, or buzzing loudly
- Water reaching the panel, outlets, or fixtures
- A breaker that trips immediately every time it is reset
- Shocks from appliances, faucets, or metal fixtures
- Downed or damaged service wiring after a storm
Fire, smoke, or a downed line is a 911 call first
If there is active fire or smoke, leave and call 911. If a service line is down in your yard or across the street, call 911 and your utility. Treat every downed line as live. We come after the scene is safe.
What to do before we arrive
A few steps make the situation safer and often limit the damage. None of them require electrical knowledge, and none involve opening the panel.
- 1
Cut power to the affected circuit
Switch off the breaker feeding the problem area if you can reach the panel safely and it is dry. If the panel itself is the problem, do not touch it.
- 2
Unplug what you can reach safely
Remove appliances from the affected outlets. If a device is hot, smoking, or sparking, leave it and cut the circuit instead.
- 3
Keep water away
If flooding is involved, do not stand in water near outlets or the panel. Water and electricity together is the situation that turns a repair into an injury.
- 4
Call and describe what you see
Tell us what you can smell, hear, and see, and whether power is partly or fully out. That determines how we respond and what we bring.
What we do on an emergency call
The first objective is to make the situation safe. The second is to restore what can be restored safely. Full repairs sometimes follow as scheduled work, and we will be clear about which is which.
- Isolate the fault and make the installation safe
- Identify the cause rather than resetting and hoping
- Restore power to unaffected circuits where possible
- Replace failed breakers, devices, and damaged sections
- Assess panel and service damage after storms or water
- Advise clearly on what must be fixed now and what can be scheduled
Partial power loss and what it usually means
Losing power to half the house, while neighbours still have theirs, is one of the more common urgent calls. It is also frequently misread as a utility outage.
In a typical home the service arrives as two legs. If one leg is lost, roughly half the circuits go dead while the rest keep working, and 240 volt appliances behave strangely. That can be a utility fault, or a failing connection at the meter or panel, and the second one is a fire risk.
- Half the outlets dead while the rest work normally
- Lights dimming and brightening as loads switch on and off
- Electric dryer or range not heating properly
- Lights unusually bright in one part of the house
Storm and water damage
New England storms bring two recurring problems: physical damage to the service entrance, and water reaching equipment that must stay dry.
Damage to the mast, meter socket, or service cable is generally the property owner's responsibility to repair before the utility will reconnect. We handle that repair and coordinate the reconnection.
Any panel or device that has been submerged should be assessed before it is re-energised. Equipment that has been under water is not reliably safe even after it dries.
Most emergencies gave warning first
Very few electrical failures are genuinely sudden. Warm outlets, breakers that trip more often than they used to, and lights that dim under load are all early signals that get tolerated until something fails.
If you are reading this after an emergency, the useful next step is having the rest of the installation checked while the problem is fresh.
Related residential services
Jobs we're often asked about alongside this one.
Frequently asked questions
- What counts as an electrical emergency? +
- A burning smell, smoke, sparking, scorch marks, a hot or buzzing panel, water reaching electrical equipment, shocks from fixtures, or a breaker that trips instantly every time. Those need a same-day response rather than a scheduled appointment.
- Should I call 911 or an electrician? +
- If there is active fire or smoke, call 911 and leave. If a power line is down, call 911 and your utility, and stay well clear. For everything else electrical, call us. Never assume a downed line is dead.
- Half my house lost power but my neighbours are fine. Why? +
- That usually means one leg of your service has been lost, at the utility connection, the meter, or the panel. It is worth treating urgently, because a failing connection at the meter or panel generates heat and is a fire risk.
- Can I just reset the breaker and carry on? +
- Resetting once is reasonable. If it trips again immediately, stop. The breaker is doing its job and telling you there is a fault. Repeatedly forcing it back on removes the only protection on that circuit.
- My panel got wet. Can it still be used? +
- It needs assessment before being re-energised. Equipment that has been submerged can corrode internally and fail in ways that are not visible, even after it appears dry. Do not touch a wet panel yourself.
- Do you cover businesses as well as homes? +
- Yes. Emergencies do not respect the split between residential and commercial, and we handle both. For commercial properties we can also advise on what needs correcting to prevent a repeat.