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Grid infrastructureUnited StatesEIR-0950

Explosion and fire at TECO East Bay substation cuts power to thousands

July 2018Published 17 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantElectrical
Estimated damageEstimated by the register's adjusterHow? Know the real figure?
Figure hidden: shown to subscribersMedium confidence
supply cut for about •• daysShown in the record →Full estimate
From the recordRoot cause hidden
Where
East Bay substation, southern Hillsborough County, Florida
Operator
Tampa Electric Company (TECO)
What
Explosion caused fire and cut power to 4,000 homes
Injuries
None reported
Cause
Not reported

Companies named in the reporting of this entry (being named is not a finding of fault): Tampa Electric, TECO

What happened

A fire broke out at Tampa Electric Company's (TECO) East Bay substation in southern Hillsborough County, Florida. Hillsborough County Fire Rescue confirmed that an explosion caused the fire. The incident knocked out power to approximately 4,000 homes. TECO crews attended the scene and rerouted power to restore supply to affected customers. Firefighters allowed the fire to burn out rather than actively extinguishing it, a common approach for electrical substation fires due to the risks of using water near energised equipment. Power to all affected customers was restored by early the following morning. No injuries were reported as a result of the incident.

Contributing factors

The specific technical cause of the explosion was not reported in the source.

Lessons learned

  1. Substation fires after an internal explosion should be allowed to burn out under supervision rather than extinguished with water near energised equipment.
  2. Utility crews should reroute supply quickly after a substation fault to limit outage length for customers.
  3. Fire services and utility teams must coordinate at substation incidents to keep responders safe while power is restored.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

  • Technical cause of the explosion
  • Equipment model and age
  • Cost of repairs and downtime

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

wfla.com

Published 2026-09-17. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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