A large electrical fire that broke out at a Puget Sound Energy (PSE) electrical substation in Redmond on Thursday caused major power outages across the Eastside.

Officials said a transformer onsite caught fire and that there were no hazardous materials concerns, no injuries and nothing criminal.

Martha Monfried, director of corporate communications for PSE, confirmed that some mineral oil — a non-toxic substance used as a coolant and conductor in the substation transformer — caught fire around 12:20 p.m., causing the Sammamish substation in the 9400 block of Willows Road to erupt in flames.

PSE officials are currently investigating the specific cause of the equipment failure and the Department of Ecology is assisting with the cleanup.

Monfried said PSE has not had a substation transformer fire in the last 40 years. The Sammamish substation, a larger facility that serves smaller stations in the area, is about 10 years old.

The Redmond Fire Department responded to the scene with four trucks, but could not use water to douse the flames because water has no affect on an oil fire.

A Sea-Tac Port of Seattle foam truck, which uses foam similar to a fire extinguisher, was brought in and doused the flames. The truck arrived about 45 minutes after the fire broke out.

Redmond police spokesperson Jim Bove said NRCES is contracted through the City of Redmond’s public works department and their main job at the substation was to ensure mineral oil did not leak past the immediate area.

OUT OF POWER

Flames were shooting several feet high and a column of black smoke could be seen for miles. Several readers called and e-mailed to report what they saw.

Initially, 25,000 customers throughout Redmond, Kirkland, Woodinville were hit with power outages, according to Monfried. By about 2:45 p.m., that number decreased to about 1,500 and was mostly limited to the immediate area, Monfried said.

There were also reports of power outages in Medina and Bellevue.

Gareth Cantrell was working at a building near the substation and said he was in an elevator when the lights flickered in the building. When he came out, he learned that there had been an explosion at the substation. Although Cantrell missed the first explosion, he said a few more followed. The building lost power, but emergency lights came on shortly afterwards, he said.

Carol Hildah, a spokesperson for the Redmond Town Center (RTC), said the mall’s power went down for about an hour, but retailers remained open during the outage.

Ariana Burrow, an employee at the nearby Red Robin restaurant, said the lights flickered initially before going out completely. With roadside construction nearby, Burrow thought that was the cause.

She said during the outage, the restaurant closed.

“Lost a lot of business today,” Burrow said.

When she learned about the fire and saw the smoke, Burrow who lives near the Edge Skate Park downtown, thought the fire was closer to the town center and called her fiance to make sure everything was okay at home.

With her workday cut short, Burrow drove to the fire site and was among more than a dozen bystanders — including Cantrell — watching the flames.

Shortly after the fire broke out, employees at the Willow Creek Corporate Center on Willows Road were also standing outside looking up at the huge black plume against white clouds.

“The power went out quickly and then it came back on and then went out immediately,” said Trevor Johnson, an employee at Microsoft Corp., was evacuated following the power outage.

Kim Haines, also a Microsoft employee, said she was working on deadline on a big project when the power went out.

“So this is really impacting our work day,” she said.

Meanwhile, Andrew Hassard, vice president of Service Communications, Inc., was walking back to his office on Willows Road, which was backed up for miles in both directions. He said his office shut down the servers and he headed over to the substation to check out the scene.

“I wandered down there and told everyone they can go ahead and go home,” Hassard said after he saw the fire and took a photo of it using his iPhone from about 100 feet away.

For a couple hours, the area was gridlocked as several traffic signals were blacked out, including 148th Avenue Northeast and Redmond Way and others along Willows Road.

SCHOOLS AFFECTED

DigiPen Institute of Technology at 9931 Willows Road N.E. canceled classes and shut down the school after experiencing power outages.

Power was also down at several Lake Washington School District (LWSD) schools, including Lakeview Elementary, International Community School and BEST in Kirkland and Ben Rush Elementary in Redmond, according to Kathryn Reith, the district communications director.

She also said phones were down for awhile at Rose Hill Junior in Redmond and Mark Twain Elementary in Kirkland. The LWSD Resource Center, located in RTC, also lost power and operated on emergency power, according to Reith.

Buses were delayed in getting out of the bus barn for the afternoon run as the fire was very near the LWSD support services offices, which is located at 15212 NE 95th St., just off of Willows Road.

“Redmond PD was wonderful, they helped us in creating a route to get buses out,” Reith said.

The PSE phone number to report power outages is 1-888-225-5773.

See more photos of the fire at staff photographer Chad Coleman’s blog Focus Northwest.

Reporter staff Samantha Pak, Bill Christianson and Carrie Wood contributed to this report.