Electrical Vault Fire Closes Part of Ventura Blvd.

A block-long stretch of Ventura Boulevard was closed for more than an hour Tuesday morning after a fire broke out in a Department and Water and Power electrical vault located under the roadway at 16748 Ventura Blvd., officials said.

No one was injured in the smoky electrical fire, said DWP spokeswoman Debra Sass, but in addition to midmorning traffic being snarled on the cross-Valley thoroughfare, power was shut off for more than an hour to 5,400 customers.

Officials blamed the fire on an equipment malfunction in the vault, which delivers electrical power to 800 Valley homes, but the specific malfunction has not been determined, Sass said.

Firefighters responded to the fire about 10:30 a.m. and found smoke pouring from the underground vault, said Bob Collis of the Los Angeles City Fire Department. Collis said when they discovered the source was a DWP facility, they alerted the utility and closed the boulevard to traffic between Petit and Balboa avenues.

“The smoke was coming out like crazy,” said Eddie Kessler, who owns a gas station across the street from the underground vault.

Sass said the fire knocked out power in only 30 homes in the Encino area, but power to 5,370 more was cut off when officials “de-energized” five other circuits in the Valley because they could not isolate the unattended station where the fire occurred.

Electrical service had been restored to all but the 30 Encino homes by about 12:30 p.m. As of Tuesday evening, the power to these homes had not been restored.