About 2,400 Greenville Utilities customers can blame a squirrel for a brief downtown power outage just after 6 p.m. Thursday, a commission official said.

"A squirrel got into a circuit switcher at a sub-station, which caused a breaker to open and interrupt the current," said Lee Earwood, an engineer with the utility.

Those affected during the 22-minute outage were between First and Eighth streets, including Elm, Brownlea, Manhattan and others in the Green Springs Park area.

"We had a crew in the area and one of our engineers was right there, so it didn't take us long to get the power back on," Earwood said.