Hydro lines caught fire early this past Sunday morning near Palmer Rapids.
According to Fire chief Jordon Genrick the cause of the fire was something he says he’s never experienced before as fire chief.
“We actually had a transformer explode at a residence, not something that’s very common. Even the hydro crews that responded, they’re like, wow, we’ve never seen that before”.
Station 1 of Brudenell, Lyndoch & Raglan Fire Department responded to the call of hydro lines on fire, in the area of Cottage Lane and Wishman Road in Palmer Rapids Sunday morning.
According to the fire chief it was called in by the residents after hearing an explosion.
Chief Genrick said that in order for the fire department to safely put out the fire, Hydro must first turn off the power.
“The [fire]burnt there for some time before hydro got there to shut the power off, to be able to make it safe for us to put water up”
Hydro one arrived just after 10 a.m to turn off power, which then let the fire crew safely extinguish the fire.
By 10:40 AM Sunday the fire was put out.
Hydro One media spokesperson Tiziana Baccega Rosa said that only one house hold was affected by the blown transformer, although it was a busy weekend for power outages in the area.
She agreed that although the blown transformer was not common, it can happen. She said Hydro One does not know the cause of the faulty transformer at this point.
She added that Hydro one “appreciated the support of the emergency response crews that assisted our crews in dealing with this situation and for customers patience while the crews worked through”