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Power has been restored in Reading, Pennsylvania, after an underground fire caused an outage on Tuesday (December 2). The fire began in an underground electrical vault on the 1000 block of Cherry Street, disrupting electricity to several nearby homes in the afternoon. Met-Ed crews worked diligently to restore power before temperatures fell in the evening. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
According to Reading Eagle, around 3,600 Met-Ed customers in Reading and West Reading lost power due to equipment failure. The West Reading Fire Department was dispatched to Sacred Heart Church to investigate a smoke condition caused by mechanical issues resulting from the power disruption. West Reading Fire Chief Chad Moyer explained that the outage was due to a phase loss, which can lead to overheating and failure of connected equipment.
Residents reported hearing a loud explosion and seeing smoke near the Met-Ed substation, as noted by Newsbreak. The incident prompted Met-Ed to repair the affected power line, and parish officials were advised to have their electrical and heating systems inspected.