FPL Addresses Fourth Of July Power Outages That Left Thousands Without AC

July 9, 2026

Florida Power & Light is addressing outages that left thousands without power on a hot Fourth of July afternoon.

“They are still investigating the cause and determining what, if any, additional work might need to be done to prevent the multiple outages that customers experienced,” said Sarah Gatewood, senior manager, communications for FPL. “We apologize for the interruption of service; we know how frustrating that can be, especially when celebrating a holiday with friends and family. Thank you to our customers for their patience as our team worked to get power restored throughout the afternoon.”

FPL first reported over 4,000 customers without power in an area generally south of Nine Mile Road and north of Longleaf along Pine Forest Road, including Wilde Lake Boulevard and West Detroit Boulevard.

Escambia County Fire Rescue responded to multiple calls of people stuck in elevators at hotels, and someone stuck in a self-storage business because the door would not open. Several minor traffic crashes were reported at intersections with no power.

Power was restored to a larger portion of that area by about 3:15 p.m., but FPL reported nearly 7,000 customers without power on and north of Nine Mile Road to about West Roberts Road in Cantonment. A later outage of over 3,000 customers was reported in an area centered around Nine Mile Road and Milestone.

NorthEscambia.com readers across the outage area reported that their power would come back on briefly, only to go out a few minutes later.

Most customers had power restored by 5 p.m., according to FPL’s reporting system.

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Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under FRONT TOP