A partial power outage affecting part of Gorham Tuesday evening left people stuck in elevators, caused motors in residences to overheat and led to an evacuation of some senior citizens.

Gorham Fire Chief Robert Lefebvre said Wednesday his department responded to 15 incidents called in within one hour, beginning at 7:10 p.m. Tuesday. Lefebvre said the incidents stemmed from a downed power line in Standish.

Lefebvre said elderly people in assisted living housing at 123 School St. were evacuated from the second floor to the ground level when an electrical panel burned up. In another senior housing, there was smoke in 121 School St.

At the University of Southern Maine campus in Gorham, people were trapped in elevators at Corthell and Wood halls. Lefebvre said the basement of Corthell Hall also filled with smoke.

The partial power caused appliances and motors to overheat in several buildings in town, Lefebvre said. Smoke and carbon monoxide alarms were also triggered.

Gorham firefighters and rescue personnel were assisted by firefighters and trucks from Buxton, Westbrook, Scarborough and Standish.

Firefighters were on scene of incidents until after 9:30 p.m.

In Windham

Fire Chief Charlie Hammond said there were electrical problems in South Windham from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. “There wasn’t enough power to run everything,” Hammond said.

Hammond said lighting was blinking in South Windham village and people experienced furnace problems. The fire department responded to an electrical problem at the Maine Correctional Center in Windham but there was no fire.

“It was a busy 45 minutes,” Hammond said.

Gail Rice, a spokeswoman for Central Maine Power Company, said a wire went down near the Randall Road sub station about 7 p.m. She said a power outage affected 4,600 customers in Buxton, Gorham, Standish and Windham. She said there was a brown out in Bonny Eagle.

Rice said the down wire impacted four sub stations. At 8:25 p.m., less than 1,000 customers were without power but it rose to 1,500 at 9 p.m. and full power was restored by 10 p.m.

“We had to do a lot of switching to restore service,” Rice said.

Rice said the company is investigating the reason for the problems caused during the power shortage.

Damage at USM

USM Spokesperson Judie O’Malley said the outage resulted in $20,000 worth of damage to campus, although she did not specify where the damage was. Stay tuned to www.keepmecurrent.com for more details.