Great footage.
9/16/2012
Ponca City (OK) Energy continues its investigation of a transformer explosion and fire at the diesel substation in the 1500 block of North Union Street which occurred Saturday morning.
The explosion caused a widespread power outage in Ponca City. “We lost a transformer in the diesel substation,” City Manager Craig Stephenson said. “We are not sure what caused the fault.
It was a hot fire and we are not sure about the internal damage. He said Saturday afternoon Ponca City Energy was not sure yet how many switches were lost in the explosion and fire.
AN INTENSE FIRE at the Union Street electrical sub-station is captured on cell phone photograph captured moments after it started by local businessman Ray Swinford.
He says he was working in his shop, Ray's Auto at 101 West Detroit Avenue, when it lost electric service at about 9 a.m. Saturday.
"I heard a loud noise and the sound of burning liquid -- oil," Swinford recalls.
He looked out the bay door and captured the scene.
ELECTRICAL SWITCHES are manually closed by a Ponca City Energy worker after a Saturday morning transformer fire at the Union Street Sub-Station.
The fire caused a citywide service outage to most residential and commercial customers along with traffic signals.
Service was restored to most customers within an hour, though some customers were without electricity for over two hours.
The cause of the incident is under investigation by Oklahoma Municipal Power Authority and Ponca City Energy officials.
