Lydia Glenn

Staff Writer

On Tuesday, September 28th, an underground electrical fire occurred at 10th and State in the evening hours. This underground fire was caused by a failed transformer and two underground cables, but these led to a power vault catching on fire and exploding. Businesses in the area of the fire were evacuated, and no reports of injury were made.

“All of a sudden we heard this big explosion as we were walking across the street.” Madison Mann, who was in downtown Erie at the time of the fire, said. “We happened to look over and saw the manhole cover flying through the air. It was really loud and intense.”

Christyn Allen, for Erie News Now, reported that at least six or seven manhole covers were shot out of the ground and reached about 10 to 12 feet in the air. The loud explosion sounds and flying manhole covers contributed to the building heat and pressure that were accumulating underground. 

“We have to go to two substations to check on situations there.” Deputy Chief Mike Faney said. “Hopefully they can shut down power to this, and we can deal with it at that point.”

Power was cut from the Bayfront to 18th Street as well as Sassafrass and Holland, leaving officers to direct traffic at many intersections in downtown Erie. 

With this fire causing electrical issues to the city, it was reported that just under 800 residents were without power for about 12 hours. The Erie fire department was able to put the fire out, but electricity to the city was now the issue. 

In response, Penelec released a statement informing Erie residents that there will be a controlled power outage to assess and fix the damage that was done underground. On Thursday, September 30th, Penelec shut power off from about 2 a.m. to 2:20 a.m.

“The outage is necessary to isolate damaged electrical cables from the network and establish safe work clearances for network electricians to make repairs in the vault at 10th and State streets,” Penelec reported. 

Todd Myers, who is the spokesperson for Penelec said that the time chosen for the shutdown was to decrease disruption for residents. 

Although problems with power seem to be mostly fixed, there are still some reports of people losing power and also AT&T users experiencing disruptions in cell service too. Unfortunately, customers of this cell service will just have to wait until the power company cleans the scene and fully repairs all of the damages. AT&T said on Friday, October 1st that they would deploy two portable cell sites to serve first responders. 

With this underground power vault undergoing repairs now, there are currently no reports on when it will be completely fixed, but most of the Erie area has reported that their power is back.