Story and pics submitted by gbrozny:

You can find a link to this and a video here .

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- American Electric Power officials said they anticipate all
customers to have fully restored electricity by 5 a.m. Tuesday after a
substation exploded Monday morning, leaving at least 35,000 customers on the
city's north side without power.
the explosion was reported at about 5:20 a.m. at the substation, located
along Karl and Norma roads, NBC 4's Kyle Anderson reported. A vortex of
bright orange, swirling flames and thick black smoke could be seen for
miles. A toxic smoke poured across Karl Road and blanketed neighborhoods for
blocks. As the sun rose, the intensity of the smoke became clearer, forcing
fire officials to evacuate six homes in the area. "We told everybody else to
just basically stay inside until we could determine exactly what was
burning," said Columbus fire battalion Chief Doug Smith. Two of three
transformers at the substation were burning, Anderson reported. For a while,
the fire was out of control. Firefighters could not extinguish the blaze
with water because of the electricity. Instead, they had to use barrels of
solvent and mix them with water to make foam. "Each one of those
transformers contained about 6,000 gallons of petroleum and that was our
problem this morning - we didn't have enough foam on the scene to put the
fire out," Smith said. Because of the size of the fire, Columbus had to call
neighboring departments to help them supply the foam, Anderson reported.
They drew help from as far away as Grandview Heights. It brought down large
power lines, causing damage that could take days to repair. Mike Vogley, a
40-year AEP employee, helped build the substation. "They wear out like
anything else," Vogley said. "You have alternators in your car go -- that's
electrical." Vogley said he was at a loss as to how the fire started, but
said he was in the same predicament with the rest of his neighbors.


The police would not let me get anywhere close to the substation to take my
own pictures, even a few hrs after the fire was out, but the only clear
view is right from Karl Rd, and AEP had a lot of trucks sitting out on the
street right in front of the substation.

There are more images and a short video on nbc4i.com, here are some
highlights:

[Linked Image]

This one shows you how close the substation is to the houses next to it,
notice the streetlight to the left is still on, because it is not on AEP.

[Linked Image]

The flames were shooting up about 50 ft. into the air.

[Linked Image]


Picture from above after they got the fire out, after it got light outside.

[Linked Image]


Close up of the effected area.


Thanks,

geoff.

{Message edited to put pics in right order}



[This message has been edited by Trumpy (edited 11-30-2005).]