Power outages follow fire at ComEd power station
Saturday June 25, 2005
CHICAGO (AP) Tens of thousands of homes and businesses were without electricity early Saturday following a fire at a ComEd power station on the city's West Side.
No injuries were reported.
Initially 38,000 customers were without power around 9 p.m. Friday, but power was restored to about 8,000 of those customers within two hours and crews worked Saturday to restore power to the rest, ComEd spokesman Tabrina Davis said
Streets and high rises near Lake Michigan were blackened in parts of the downtown area and on the city's South Side. The outage area was from 49th Street on the south end, up north to Hubbard Street, east to Lake Shore Drive and west to Western Avenue, Davis said.
The outage came as the city had its hottest day so far this year, reaching a high of 96 degrees, according to the National Weather Service.
Fire fighters arrived at the power station around 8:30 p.m. and saw flames shooting as high as 15 feet. Fire crews had to wait until ComEd officials shut off the power before firefighters could begin to battle the blaze, said fire department spokesman Larry Langford.
A special crew from O'Hare International Airport was called in to fight the fire with dry chemicals.
More than 3,000 gallons of foam was used to help fight the fire that broke out in an underground vault about two blocks long, fire department spokeswoman Rosa Escareno said.
The power outage also took out the lights along a three-mile stretch of Interstate 90/94 on the city's South Side, but had not caused any accidents, according to the Illinois State Police.
Fire and police received several calls for help, including people who were trapped in elevators. Emergency officials were checking on people in hospitals, senior centers, nursing homes and other facilities.
ComEd serves 3.6 million customers across northern Illinois
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