In The News

Light’s out: Burned out bulb suspected at Little Point Sable Lighthouse
Oceana's Herald-Journal
John Cavanagh
April 24, 2013

Oceana’s long-standing sentinel is currently standing dark. The light in the Little Point Sable Lighthouse has gone out, and it might be due to a burned out bulb. The outage is not due to federal government sequesters requiring that the power be turned off, said Congressman Bill Huizinga’s press secretary Brian Patrick.

“From the federal side, there’s been a lot made out of the sequester, but this is not the case with this,” Patrick said.

Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers Association Vice President Bob Baltzer said he’s been in contact with the Ninth District Coast Guard office in Cleveland, Ohio and also believes the light has just burned out. He said the Ninth District office was to have someone from the Muskegon Coast Guard Station inspect Little Point Sable to confirm that is the case.

The lighthouse uses a 250 watt halogen bulb, Baltzer said, and through the Third Order Fresnel lens can be seen for up to 15 miles. The lighthouse also has an automatic four bulb changer that is supposed to install a new bulb when an outage is detected and the Coast Guard also is going to check that mechanism to make sure it’s functioning properly.

For over a year, the US Coast Guard has worked with the Sable Point Lighthouse Keepers Association to transfer operations, Patrick said, and once completed the Coast Guard would remove its light and the lighthouse association would install privately-funded light. Once jurisdiction changes, the lighthouse will become classified as a private aid to navigation lighthouse, and the Coast Guard will remove the current lighting system. Baltzer said the Sable Point Lighthouse group will install a LED style bulb and will become responsible for maintaining it and paying associated costs. The new lighting system will remain a white light and have the same flash pattern. Baltzer did not see the burned out light posing any navigational hazards.

“They’ve already decommissioned the light so they don’t even count on it anymore,” Baltzer said.

Construction on the lighthouse started in 1873 and it became operational in 1874. The light was automated in 1955.