Power is still out for many residents between Mellen Street and Centralia College following a fire that ignited next to the train tracks by Ash Street on Tuesday afternoon. The Riverside Fire Authority, along with technicians from Centralia City Lights, responded to the scene.
“It appears a (powerline) connection was severed and an energized line fell down and ignited the fire,” said Riverside Fire Authority firefighter Kevin Anderson.
CCL General Manager M.L. Norton stated in a phone call that an estimated 500 customers lost power during the incident.
“The hospital was affected but we worked closely with them to stay abreast of our repairs and we got the repairs done just over the two hour point from when it occurred,” Norton said.
Brianna Hernandez, a resident on Ash Street, was home with her friend Alysha Kester when the powerline snapped and ignited the fire earlier this afternoon.
“I heard a big bang, and then I ran into her (Kester) and I was like, ‘is the power gone?’ and then we ran through the living room and looked through the little curtain by the AC in the window and we just saw the fire spreading bigger and bigger,” Hernandez said.
Kester recorded some video of the fire on her phone and said she got shocked as the live wire had energized the fence surrounding her back yard. She said she saw evidence of dangerous electricity in the house as well.
“I saw the flash by the AC unit and the electric socket for the AC unit exploded too,” Kester said.
Their next door neighbor, John Porter, was working in Tumwater at the time when another neighbor called him to tell him his backyard was on fire. Porter stated he heard noises coming from the powerline in question for a couple of weeks.
“I’ve been out here twice watering now, getting the grass wet or the flowers over there, and something up here (on the utility pole) would go ‘bzzt’ real loud, and it was only once and then another time it did it again. It had to be that line giving out and it finally just gave out,” Porter said.
Porter stated blackberry bush overgrowth at the base of the pole makes maintenance hard to accomplish. He also recalled when he first moved into his house back in 2008. He had a firepit with his family where they witnessed the powerline display safety concerns.
“I happened to glance toward the pole and a squirrel had gotten up it and touched the wrong stuff and was instantly ignited and fell to the ground. I could see him fall the whole way on fire, but it didn’t knock the power out at the time,” Porter said.
Riverside Fire Authority had the fire extinguished and was working on cleanup efforts. Representatives from Centralia City Lights expect to have power restored for residents by this evening.
