A overnight power outage sent the Hays Fire Department to Epworth Towers early Friday morning.

Residents were awakened at 1:46 a.m. Friday when alarms went off after the outage due to a malfunctioning emergency generator.

The HFD said firefighters responded to the six-story apartment building and found smoke coming from the generator.

“Working cooperatively with the building staff, it was determined to allow the generator to continue to run to power essential services and protect the residents until regular power could be restored,” the HFD reported Friday morning.

Fire crews used ventilation fans to clear the smoke until regular power could be restored.

Midwest Energy spokesman Mike Morley said the outage affected seven meters in the 27th and Colonial area and was caused by a bad cable between two transformers on a pole. Midwest crews restored the power approximately two hours later.

The last HFD crews left Epworth Towers at 3:33 a.m.