Fire Causes 100-Mile Blackout in Florida; 4.5 Million Affected

A brush fire in the Everglades overheated a power line and cut electricity to 4.5 million South Florida residents along a 100-mile stretch at noon Friday, snarling traffic, closing businesses and stranding elevator riders.

Electricity was gradually restored in Dade, Broward, Palm Beach and Monroe counties by mid-afternoon, and no injuries or serious problems were reported, officials said.

The blaze, which started west of Fort Lauderdale, was one of several wind-whipped wildfires that burned thousands of acres of land in Florida and Georgia since Thursday, killing two persons. Florida Division of Forestry spokesman Paul Wills said that eight to 10 fires of 100 acres or more were burning out of control, fanned by winds of up to 39 m.p.h.

Generators Shut Down

The Fort Lauderdale fire, which temporarily blocked traffic on U.S. 27 near Andytown, heated up a nearby 500-kilovolt transmission line, Florida Power & Light Co. spokeswoman Teresa Gomez said. “That automatically shut down generators throughout South Florida,” she said.

The utility said power was shut off along more than 100 miles of the southeast coast from Lantana in Palm Beach County to Marathon in the Keys, including all parts of Miami. However, service was restored to 90% of the utility’s customers by 3 p.m., Gomez said.

Flames and smoke prevented utility repairmen from approaching the affected transmission line, so power was gradually being rerouted to South Florida from Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana, Gomez said.

Rail Service Halted

When the power failure struck at 11:50 a.m., Miami’s elevated Metro Rail service stopped, but cars coasted to the nearest station and unloaded passengers.

Office workers left without lights, computers or air conditioning in 90-degree heat spilled out into the streets to watch the spectacle.

“Traffic lights are out all over,” Metro-Dade police spokesman Hugh Peebles said during the outage. “I’m sure there are people trapped in elevators all over town.”

Several drawbridges were stuck open as well.

Hospitals switched to emergency power but, like many businesses, found their telephone systems snarled because bells and lights refused to register incoming calls.