Transformer fire in New Haven causes power outages and a road closure

What happened

On 9 September 2026, a transformer fire in New Haven, Connecticut, was reported to have cut power on Wednesday afternoon. Yale University alerted at 4:29 p.m. that power was out near 2 Science Park (50 Division Street) and 25 Science Park (150 Munson Street) because of the fire, and said Winchester Avenue was closed from Munson Street to Division Street. More than 2,000 United Illuminating customers in New Haven were without power when the outage was first reported.

Power was restored and the area was clear as of 5:10 p.m., though 13 customers were still without supply at 5:45 p.m. The cause, the exact transformer, and whether anyone was injured were not reported. The account was marked as developing.

Contributing factors

The cause of the fire was not reported.

Lessons learned

1. A transformer fire on an urban feeder can take thousands of customers off supply within minutes, so restoration switching should be ready before the first public alert.
2. A short road closure may be needed around the fire even when most power returns quickly; site and city updates should be checked together.
3. Customer counts should be rechecked after the first restoration, because a small number of supplies can remain off.

Source

wtnh.com