Substation fire reported to have briefly cut power to thousands, Texas
Dec 2017Published 21 Sept 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor
- Where
- Waco, Texas
- What
- Fire at an electrical substation
- Cause
- Not reported
- Outcome
- Thousands of customers briefly without power
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What happened
A local newspaper serving Waco, Texas reported in late December 2017 that a fire at an electrical substation left thousands of customers briefly without power. Only the headline and summary were available, so the substation's name and exact location, the utility involved, the cause of the fire, the outage duration, the emergency service response and whether anyone was injured are all not reported. The reference to the outage being brief is the only indication of its duration.
Contributing factors
Not reported.
Lessons learned
- Substation fires can cut supply to thousands even when brief, so operators should maintain rapid load transfer switching.
- Early public reports often give only headlines, so operators should publish short post-incident summaries.
More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.
Not yet known
- Substation name and exact location
- Utility involved
- Cause of the fire
- Outage duration
This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.
Source
Published 2026-09-21. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.
