Blackout

[Ed007Toronto]

Parts of downtown are dark tonight. Traffic lights from Richmond and Yonge to Dundas and Yonge are out. The Bay is out. East side of Yonge north of Manulife on Queen is dark save for the Cannon Theatre which is, strangely enough, fully lit and operating as normal. Dundas east on both sides of the street are dark from Yonge to at least Jarvis save for Metropolis. Pantages condo and Bond Place Hotel are dark. Church from Dundas to Shuter is dark as are Bond and Victoria Streets. Boot 1 is lit while the co-op to the north of it is dark. Only place along Victoria north of Queen that's lit is St Michael's Hospital.

Cops are directing traffic on Yonge but not at Dundas and Church. Almost saw a couple of accidents there while watching for a few minutes.

 

[The Burgher of TO]

It's been like that since this afternoon. The south half of the Eaton Centre was also dark, and I believe the subway is also affected.

 

[wyliepoon]

Star

www.thestar.com/News/article/195751

Fire cuts off power downtown



Mar 24, 2007 05:26 PM
Josh Wingrove
staff reporters
Nick Kyonka
A stubborn fire in an underground hydro panel outside the Eaton Centre has cut off power to much of Toronto’s downtown core.

The fire broke out in the buried electrical vault near Bay St. and Richmond St. W. around 1:30 p.m., Saturday, Toronto Hydro officials said. Around 3:30 p.m., power was cut off to the areas north and east of the location, including the southern section of the Eaton Centre mall.

“It looks like half the Eaton Centre is without power,†said Toronto Police Staff Sgt. John Boyce from nearby 52 Division. “We’ve got extra officers just monitoring, making sure everything is OK there.â€

Stores in the northern part of the mall, including the Sears department store, were unaffected by the power outages.

By 5 p.m., power outages continued as far east as Jarvis St., and as far north as Dundas St. W.

Although drawn-out blackouts can usually be avoided around transformer fires, the central location of this vault caused them to black out the surrounding area, said Toronto Hydro spokesperson Thelma Hatzis.

“Usually that's the case; that there's an alternative back-up but the way this system is designed is as a network system,†she said.

While hydro crews have been on scene for several hours, Hatzis said, workers had to wait for the fire department to control the fire and clear thick plumes of smoke before they could enter the vault.

“Because of the fire is down there, we're keeping our people out until it's safe and we're keeping our equipment out until it's safe,†Hatzis said. “Our crews were actually waiting for the fire to go out to go down and inspect the damage.â€

No one was reported injured during the incident, police said, and no evacuations were necessary.