GLENDALE : Blast Cuts Power, Touches Off Blaze

A power transformer in Glendale exploded early Wednesday, leaving customers near South Glendale Avenue without electricity for more than three hours and causing a 2,500-gallon oil spill that sparked flames, officials said. Fifty people were evacuated from nearby homes.

No one was injured in the 1:47 a.m. blaze, which did not spread beyond a 20-foot-by-50-foot transformer base at the city’s Tropico substation near Glendale Avenue and Chevy Chase Drive, said Glendale Fire Battalion Chief Mike Carter.

Noise from the explosion was so loud that Glendale police received about 500 calls, said Officer Rod Brooks. Burbank police and Crescenta Valley sheriff’s deputies were called in to help patrol the city while Glendale officers responded to the scene.

“It was such a major incident that we had to send out almost everybody we had,” Brooks said.

Residents who had been evacuated for fear that the oil might contain toxic chemicals were allowed to return within an hour after it was determined that the spill was not poisonous.

By Wednesday afternoon, city officials had not determined the cause of the 69,000-volt transformer explosion, which caused $300,000 in damage. City public service crews will investigate whether the cold and moisture were factors, said Michael P. Hopkins, director of public service.

Hopkins said the outage affected 8,000 customers in an area south of Colorado Boulevard and bounded by the Glendale Freeway on the east and San Fernando Road on the west. Power was restored just before 5 a.m.

“The substation is up and running,” he said. “We will attempt to salvage and overhaul the (damaged) transformer.”