Pepco transformer catches fire; DC Fire and EMS say
In an update Thursday afternoon, Pepco has restored power to around 1,600 customers, with less than 200 remaining customers impacted.
Shortly after midnight, on July 17, the D.C. Fire and EMS Department was dispatched to the Pepco substation in the 2140 N Street NW for a fire. A Twinned Agent Unit extinguished the transformer inside the substation.
DC Fire and EMS respond to vehicle in water in Potomac River
No injuries were reported.
During the initial outage, the Pepco showed about 19 active outages with more than 1,800 customers without power in the Dupont Circle and West End areas.
The issues began around 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday when a feeder cable tripped at 11th Street NW and Clifton Street NW. No customers were impacted.
A second feeder tripped at 8:15 p.m. at 11th Street NW and Monroe Street NW, which caused an electrical failure. Despite this failure, no customers were impacted, but security footage captured footage of a fire at this site.
Then, around 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, another failure occurred — this time at the substation on 22nd Street, near N Street. A fire at the location prompted the DC Fire and EMS to respond. With three feeders down, more strain was put on the system.
Around 4:20 a.m. on Thursday, Pepco crews noticed the load increasing on the system and turned off customers' power to prevent an additional overload. Another customer drop was needed around 6:20 a.m.
In an update on Thursday morning, Councilmember Brooke Pinto, crews were bringing in generators to reduce strain on the system and help prevent failure of remaining feeders.
'Crews are working safely and quickly. Please reduce energy use if possible,' said Pepco in a post on X.
Pinto initially stated that the power was expected to be restored between 1-2 p.m. Thursday. They have since retracted that, saying that the complex nature of the outages has put estimated restoration times on hold.
'We understand it is difficult to be without power and appreciate the patience and understand of our customers as crews work safely and as quickly as possible to resolve the issue,' Pepco officials said in a statement. 'Traffic control is in place near the substation, and we are using local generation to help support the system.
Check DCNewsNow.com for updates. To keep up with the latest news and weather updates, download our Mobile App on iPhone or Android.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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