Around 1500 people are still without power more than a day after flames spread through a PECO substation in Philadelphia’s Nicetown-Tioga section.
Philadelphia High School for Girls on 1400 W. Olney Ave. and EW Rhodes Middle School on 2900 W. Clearfield Street were both closed Wednesday due to power outages. All after-school activities at both schools were canceled Wednesday as well. [[415639043, C]]
The outages were caused by a fire that started at the Westmoreland substation at 1:50 p.m. Tuesday on 2634 W. Westmoreland Street, officials said.
Firefighters and a hazmat unit responded to the scene. As SkyForce10 hovered overhead around 2:45 p.m. you could see flames and thick black smoke shooting into the air and white foam being used to contain the blaze. [[415656093, C]]
"I didn't know whether to stay outside or stay in my house because you could smell it in my house just as good as you could smell it across the street," said Mary Wilson who lives near the substation and suffers from asthma.
Officials say the fire was electrical. They used chemicals and fire suppression powder to contain it rather than water and were able to bring the flames under control around 5:30 p.m. Tuesday.
Fire Consumes PECO Substation
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Flames spread through the substation but didn't go beyond the facility into the surrounding neighborhood. No injuries were reported and no one nearby was evacuated, firefighters said.
Around 36,000 customers were without power at the peak of the fire. The number was brought to about 1500 by 9 p.m. Wednesday. Temple University also reported portions of its hospital complex, campus and the Temple Towers residence hall were without power at one point.
Traffic lights at surrounding intersections throughout North Philadelphia were out due to the fire. Generators and stop signs were placed in impacted intersections from Broad to 33rd streets and in the Hunting Park section of the city. Police also assisted at the busier intersections.
PECO is working to re-route power for the impacted customers and hoped to have power restored for everyone at some point Thursday.
Officials have not yet revealed what started the blaze.
