CHARLESTON, W.Va. – An underground electric transformer exploded Thursday night in downtown Charleston causing a power outage to several hundred Appalachian Power customers that could last for several days.
Most of the downtown area went dark after the fire that occurred at around 7 o’clock at the corner of Virginia and Hale streets. Black smoke was pouring from a manhole. All power service is located underground in downtown Charleston.
Appalachian Power crews were called to the scene but company officials said their top priority was the safety of the workers.
“Right now what we’re doing is working to get that area safe,” spokesman Phil Moye said. “Making sure it’s safe for our workers to go in and assess the damage.”
The company said about 600 customers were without service.
The outage has the potential to cause a mess in downtown Charleston Friday with no traffic lights. Police and Kanawha County Commission President Kent Carper urged residents to exercise extreme caution on the roads and especially at the many lights that are out.
“At this time we’re respectfully requesting all motorists to exercise grave caution when coming to a stoplight,” Carper said. “If a traffic light is out, you should treat it like a four-way stop.”
Carper also said measures would be taken to assist residents who may depend on electricity for their oxygen machines. Moye didn’t offer a timetable for the power coming back.
“Until we can safely get into the manhole area and make an assessment of what type of damage we’re looking at, we really can’t give any accurate estimate of when power will be restored,” he said.
City police will have extra patrols in dark areas, and sheriff’s deputies are on hand to assist them.