July 20, 2004
Associated Press
APS has raised its power alert to red, the most urgent level, and urged Valley residents to reduce use throughout the day to avert potential rolling blackouts. The alert was prompted by an electrical substation fire that left some 50,000 northwest Phoenix residents and businesses without power early Tuesday.
It was the second substation fire in the area in two weeks.
A utility company spokesman said the fire was not of the same magnitude of a July 4 fire which had prompted daily requests from power companies for customers to conserve electricity.
All but 13,000 homes and businesses initially left without power Tuesday had their power restored within two hours, said Damon Gross, spokesman for Arizona Public Service Co.
He said the fire damaged one of three transformers at a substation, but APS had a replacement.
It took fire crews two hours to control the blaze, said Assistant Chief Bob Khan, a spokesman for the Phoenix Fire Department.
Investigators didn't immediately know what caused the fire, but Khan said it was probably an internal problem. "Nothing seems suspicious at this time," he said.
The July 4 fire, which remains under investigation, destroyed a bank of transformers at a substation that is one of four that distribute power in the Phoenix area for APS and the Salt River Project, the area's two major electrical utilities.
A replacement bank of transformers was expected to arrive Tuesday by barge in Los Angeles from the Northwest. It will be trucked to Phoenix starting Wednesday.
Traveling at 10 mph, APS said the 400,000-pound bank of transformers should arrive Saturday afternoon and be installed over the next three weeks.
Meanwhile, APS and SRP warned customers that demand was heading for a high this year as high temperatures combined with high humidity. To avoid rolling blackouts APS reworked its transmission grid on Monday to increase its power capacity.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0720substation20-ON.html