A transformer caught fire Sunday afternoon at a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in East Oakland, cutting power to tens of thousands of people across the East Bay for several hours.
About 25 firefighters from the Oakland Fire Department responded at about 1 p.m. to the blaze at a PG&E substation near 50th Avenue and Coliseum Way, near the Oakland Coliseum, according to Michael Hunt, an Oakland fire spokesman.
Fire crews arrived to find brown-gray smoke emanating from the PG&E yard, and once inside, realized that a transformer was burning, said James Bowron, an Oakland fire battalion chief. Once assured that the area was no longer electrified, fire crews managed to use a dry chemical fire extinguishing substance to extinguish the flame. The fire was brought under control about an hour and a half after crews were called to the scene.
Air quality in the region did not approach dangerous levels, and air monitors all came back as negative for toxic substances, Bowron said.
Power was briefly down at the Oakland International Airport affecting some security checkpoints and BART Oakland Airport Connector trains were also stopped for a short time. In an e-mailed statement, Port of Oakland spokesman Roberto Bernardo said power was restored by 2:50 p.m. and that no flights were canceled but some Southwest Airlines flights saw delays of up to an hour.
As of 9 p.m., about 8,500 PG&E customers were expected to remain without power overnight across a broad swath of East Oakland, the Oakland Hills and the city of Alameda where the bridges to the island were impacted. That was down slightly from a peak of about 54,000 customers earlier in the afternoon, 48,000 as of about 6 p.m. and 20,000 as of 6:30 p.m.
Despite utility crews’ efforts to bring power back as safely and quickly as possible, some customers were expected to be without power through 6 a.m. Monday, PG&E spokesman James Guidi said in an e-mailed statement Sunday night.
Guidi urged residents to check PG&E’s outage map at PGE.com for restoral estimates.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
AMP is experiencing a major outage due to a PG&E transmission outage. We are attempting to determine cause and when power will be restored. We appreciate your patience and will update as more information is know.
— AMP (@AlamedaMuniPwr) February 19, 2023
Oakland Fire is currently responding to a Fire at the PG&E substation near 50th Avenue and Coliseum Way. PG&E reports approximately 50K customers in the City of Oakland may be impacted by this outage. Please check the PG&E outage map at https://t.co/l6SyUTfHA6 for current status. pic.twitter.com/4BfDKTLPTx
— Oakland Fire Department (CA) (@OaklandFireCA) February 19, 2023
The fire at the substation located at 50th x Coliseum is now out, as of 230PM. Please check the PG&E outage map at https://t.co/Cd7qhZjkMo for current status updates and timelines for restoration. There is no Hazmat concern or evacuations necessary. No further updates. pic.twitter.com/SPm6kTTTUt
— Oakland Fire Department (CA) (@OaklandFireCA) February 19, 2023
#Oakland: We are aware of the large outage in Oakland impacting approximately 50,000 customers. We are currently investigating the details and will provide more information on the timing of restoration as soon as we can.
— Tamar Sarkissian (@PGE_Tamar) February 19, 2023
Power Restored – We appreciate PG&E’s efforts to restore power and thank you all for your patience.
— AMP (@AlamedaMuniPwr) February 20, 2023
#Oakland: We have restored approx. 20k customers – we are working safely and quickly as possible to restore remaining customers. Some customers may remain w/o power for up to 12 hours as we work to replace the transformer. https://t.co/sYO4bD3FLU.
— Tamar Sarkissian (@PGE_Tamar) February 20, 2023
#Oakland: Approximately 45k of the initial 54k customers have been restored as of 9 PM. Unfortunately, we expect that most of the remaining 8,500 customers could be without power overnight. Please check https://t.co/BXc9i4KoLk for the latest updates and restoration times.
— Tamar Sarkissian (@PGE_Tamar) February 20, 2023
Source: www.mercurynews.com