electricity

Power Restored to 94K Customers Left in Dark Overnight Following LADWP Fire, Explosions

Power was restored Sunday to the approximately 94,000 customers in the San Fernando Valley who had been in the dark overnight.

The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power reported that power had been restored sometime between 6 a.m. and 8 a.m. The affected areas were in Northridge, Reseda, Lake Balboa, Tarzana, Granada Hills, Chatsworth, West Hills and Canoga Park.

They were a part of an outage that originally left 140,000 Valley customers without electricity, following a fire and explosions at a DWP power plant in Northridge.

"Crews continue assessing damage at Receiving Station J and will make permanent repairs," according to a DWP statement.

The flames and blasts were reported at 6:53 p.m. Saturday at DWP's Receiving Station J in the 18900 block of Parthenia Street, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

Most of the flames were doused within two hours, DWP spokesman Michael Ventre said.

The fire was in an energized storage vault with 50,000 to 60,000 gallons of mineral oil, Humphrey said.

Eighty-four firefighters let the flames burn while DWP workers de- energized the facility, then they put water and foam on the fire, Humphrey said. They did not want to cause more damage by putting water on the flames while the plant was energized.

No injuries were reported.

Firefighters had the bulk of flames out in two hours but were expected to remain on the scene into the morning to watch for flare-ups, Humphrey said.

Widespread power outages were reported as a result of the fire, but Ventre said power was restored to nearly 50,000 customers at 10 p.m. Saturday.

Only one part of the facility was damaged, but the entire plant had to be de-energized, the DWP said. Undamaged portions were to be re-energized once the situation stabilized.

Copyright CNS - City News Service
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