Residents with no power out of patience

FAIRFIELD, Conn. (WTNH) -- Some Fairfield residents have reached their boiling point, where UI reports more than 2,000 residents are still among the 3% without power.

The Fairfield Police Dept. told News 8 that UI has been forced to hire police officers to protect their crews from harassment and threats.

On Monday, in a neighborhood near the Black Rock turnpike, News 8 found lots of people who are clearly running out of patience.

Call Dan Scalise part of the three percent, that is, the three percent of UI customers still without power eight days post Sandy.

"I am totally disgusted," Dan Scalise of Fairfield said.

In this comfortable Fairfield neighborhood, people are hot under-the-collar.

"You have people from other states coming up here to do the work. We hear from some of these people who are utility people saying, I hate to tell you this but the people up here just don't know what they're doing," Scalise said.

A quick scan of the neighborhood tells the story. Power lines are still tangled up in downed trees.

Liz Isenberg tells us three power polls, downed by Sandy, still have not been removed. Like many others, she's had enough.

"It's been difficult. We've been staying with friends at night, because it's just too cold to stay in the house," Isenberg said.

"They harassed them and then they blocked one of the trucks and said you're not leaving until my power comes on," said John Russo.

Russo was appalled by one of his neighbors.

"They worked as hard as they could you know, it's understandable," Russo said. "It's not their fault."

"The power says they get a lot of criticism, but it's an overwhelming task," said Mark Lockwood, of Fairfield.

Lockwood has half power. He only has lights, no heat and no electricity in the kitchen. During the storm, a subpanel was submerged, along with his basement.

"This one is devastating," said Lockwood. "We had a significant amount of stuff in the basement, it's all lost."

Others complain that UI and AT&T don't seem to be working together effectively, that crews come out to check out problems, but still no progress is made.

"Nobody follows through coordinating with the next phase so nobody knows what's going on from one thing to the next," Ed Chervansky of Fairfield said.

The broader criticism, from State Representative Tony Hwang and others, is how UI management has reacted during the crisis.

"When you sit in a command center you really don't fully understand. You're caught up in that frenzy of assignments but you don't really understand the nuts and bolts of taking care of the people," Republican State Rep. of District 134, Tony Hwang, said.

Fairfield police also told News 8 some of those UI crews actually had to stop working until police officers got on scene for protection.

Sadly in some neighborhoods, eight days after the storm, Sandy continues to punish.