FREEHOLD — The Monmouth County Office of Emergency Manage-ment has ordered county residents to restrict outdoor water use indefinitely.
"Effective immediately, and until further notice, there is a complete ban of all outdoor water use by order of the Mon-mouth County Office of Emergency Management," states a press release issued by the Monmouth County Board of Free-holders.
The order was issued Monday afternoon following a massive electrical transformer fire in Howell.
According to the release, the Monday morning fire at the Larabee transmission substation on Randolph Road may impact power to water pumps at the Manasquan Reservoir, which serves 25 municipalities in the county.
"The public must conserve water at this time to maintain water pressure for fire hydrants and for emergency use," the release states.
One 230,000-volt transformer was destroyed and a second was partially damaged following three explosions at the facility Monday morning.
While power was restored to customers who were affected by the fire, the power at the facility is now running through just one transformer, according to the release.