Transformer fire at Hydro One Richview station closes Highway 401 in Toronto

What happened

On Friday 18 March 2011, Toronto police said a large transformer blew up at 4:49 p.m. at Hydro One's Richview transformer station in the west end of Toronto, Canada, near Pearson Airport. Hydro One confirmed that two transformers had caught fire. Firefighters put the blaze out by 8:40 p.m. Traffic on Highway 401 was stopped in both directions near Highway 427 and reopened about 90 minutes after the fire started.

Some nearby homes were evacuated. Lights flickered across much of the city and power was briefly lost at Pearson Airport's Terminal 3, with no flight delays reported. Hydro One said customers who lost power had it restored by 5:42 p.m., and that no injuries or health and safety issues were reported. The cause and the amount of damage were not known at the time.

Contributing factors

Not reported. Hydro One said the cause was not known at the time.

Lessons learned

1. A transformer fire beside a major road can close it for a time, so stations near critical routes need agreed traffic and fire plans.
2. Restoring supply quickly, as happened here within about an hour, limits how long customers are without power.
3. Until the cause and the extent of damage are known, operators should say so rather than speculate.

Source

cbc.ca