Smoke pours from Seattle City Light’s Broad Street substation. (Photo by Mike Siegel / The Seattle Times)
Update at 12:29 p.m.: Power has been restored to the 325 customers that lost power during the fire at Seattle City Light’s Broad Street Substation.
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Update at 11:20 a.m.: Seattle firefighters will let the substation fire burn itself out, according to spokesman Kyle Moore. Once that happens, the scene will be turned over to City Light for investigation.
The fire started in mineral oil inside a capacitor bank, which has 26,000 volts running through it, Moore said.
Update 11:06 a.m.: Seattle Center, the Space Needle and EMP have not been impacted by this morning’s power outage.
Seattle Center spokeswoman Deborah Daoust said lights flickered momentarily and a few people lost documents on their computers, but that was the worst of it.
She said Seattle Center has a backup power supply. The Space Needle and EMP also have backup power sources, or generators. The Monorail, Daoust said, was shut down.
Update at 10:47 a.m.: Firefighters are pumping foam on the fire at the Broad Street substation near Seattle Center.
City Light spokesman Roberto Bonaccorso says the fire is burning a capacitor bank, which regulates current.
Update at 10:36 a.m.: Among the customers without power are the Space Needle, EMP, Key Arena and Seattle Center, according to City Light.
Update at 10:29 a.m.: Seattle City Light reports approximately 325 customers are without power as a result of the fire. Most are in the Seattle Center area.
Original post: Seattle firefighters are on scene at a transformer fire at Seattle City Light’s Broad Street substation.
Fire spokesman Kyle Moore said that 13 firefighters are spraying foam on the fire at 319 6th Ave N.. The fire broke out at 10:05 a.m.
There are no injuries, Moore said.
Emergency responders have received multiple reports of thick black smoke.
This post will be updated.