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Late on Thursday, Jan. 25, multiple agencies were called to the 300 block of North Charles Street, where there was a reported underground fire, smoke coming from multiple manholes, and possible explosions.
According to officials, the initial investigation found that fire was emitting from one of the smoking manholes, which was quickly extinguished by responding fire crews, though not before the flames could wreak havoc on electrical conduits under the roadway.
Power had to be shut down to businesses and homes in the area of the 300 and 400 block of North Charles Street to allow firefighters to knock down the rest of the fire, which could only be accomplished once the power was off, they added.
The outage had a lingering impact in the area of Centre Street, Liberty Street, St. Paul Street, and Fayette Street, though the main Mercy Hospital facility was largely unaffected. Several city buildings were also impacted, with essential buildings running on emergency power.
Several streets were also closed for several hours.
As of noon on Friday afternoon, power has largely been restored throughout the area, with some still reporting outages as cleanup from the incident continues. The incident also forced some evacuations and led to courthouses being closed downtown on Friday.
No injuries were reported.
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