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Grid infrastructureUnited StatesEIR-2385

Transformer explodes and catches fire at Nashville substation

Oct 2017Published 14 Oct 2026Responsible editor: Chief Editor

SignificantThermal / fire
Estimated damageModelled 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 hiddenFailed part hidden

Companies named in this entry: Nashville Electric Service

What happened

On Monday 30 October 2017, at around 2 p.m. local time, a large transformer at a Nashville Electric Service (NES) substation blew and caught fire in downtown Nashville, Tennessee. The substation sat just off Main Street near Interstate 24, next to a car park for state employees. The fire sent black smoke into the sky that could be seen for miles across the city. According to firefighters on the scene, the fire was fought in 10 to 15 minutes, after which hot spots were put out, and crews applied FireIce, a non-corrosive gel fire retardant.

No one was injured. Power was shut off to the area so crews could fight the fire and assess the damage, and roughly 1,500 customers were without power for a short period. The cause was not clear at the time of reporting. The next day NES returned to the site to begin clean-up and prepare the damaged transformer for inspection.

Contributing factors

The source does not establish the cause. It states that it was not clear what caused the transformer to fail at the time of reporting.

Lessons learned

  1. Urban substations can release large smoke plumes and fire hazards quickly, so operators should pre-plan fire response with the local fire service, including suitable suppression agents for transformers.
  2. A failure in a central substation can cut supply to many customers, so operators should plan communication with the public and restoration steps for short outages in city centres.
  3. Damaged transformers should be secured and preserved for forensic inspection so that the failure mode can be identified and fed back into maintenance and design practice.

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

Source

wkrn.com

Other entries that name Nashville

Published 2026-10-14. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

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