June 16 Explosion near Rose Hill - Power outages - Terrible traffic around town

Mike Siegle/Seatle Times

Katie's Facebook photo taken from 200 feet above ground level

 ROLLING NEWS:

Emily's photo sent by Facebook

Scroll down for more photos

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ROLLING NEWS:

All power is restored.  PSE, Allison Stanford, ~ 3:46 PM, 6/16

PSE Report:  Mineral oil is used as a coolant and conductor for the substation.  It appears the cause for the  black smoke.  The mineral oil is non-toxic.  A substation fire/explosion has never occurred in the history of Puget Sound Energy.  They've been supplying energy to the region since 1886.
  -- Allison Stanford, PSE spokesperson.  Reported by B. Yoder  4:33PM

Duvall Police, Kirkland Police, and Redmond Police Explorers assisted Redmond Police with initial response and traffic. Kirkland Fire, Redmond Public Works, Redmond Planning, and the Washington Department of Ecology also responded, assuring there was no further damage.
  -- City of Redmond

KING 5:  Redmond Sub-Station Fire Knocks Out Power to 1000's
http://www.king5.com/home/Redmond-WA-substation-fire-knocks-out-power-124022269.html

READ MORE >>

The PSE substation is located on the 9400 Block of Willows Road. 

Redmond Traffic TWEET
Power restored to Redmond traffic signals! 3:25PM

Utility power has been restored to all Microsoft buildings except Willows 9825, Willows 10525, and Willows Warehouse and cooling has been restored to all buildings with the exception of Redwest Campus, 84, 85, 86, 87, and 88.  3:16 pm
---- Reported by R. M.
 
For information about power outages contact PSE @ http://www.pse.com/Pages/contact-us.aspx

A transformer exploded and sparked a fire at a Puget Sound Energy substation in the Redmond area at midday today. There were no reports of injuries, PSE spokeswoman Allison Stanford said.
The explosion and fire caused 25,000 PSE customers to lose power, but 16,000 customers soon had power restored, Stanford said. Puget Sound Energy received the call about the explosion and fire at 12:30 p.m., and PSE workers were dispatched shortly after the call, Stanford said. The fire sent a tall plume of black smoke into the sky. The power outages darkened traffic signals and tied up traffic in the area.
Redmond and Kirkland fire departments responded to the fire call.
  - SEATTLE TIMES, 6/16

Emily wrote: "Bob I just got this email from LWSD: "A power substation fire has affected electricity service to some schools and to the district's Resource Center. The fire is near the district's support services facility: school buses may be delayed in leaving the bus barn. Students will be released from school on time. Students on buses may be late in getting home. Schools without electricity will have limited if any phone and e-mail service. Schools with no electricity at this time are: • International Community School/Community School • Twain Elementary • Lakeview Elementary • Rush Elementary The Resource Center is also without main power. The district data center is equipped with battery backup and a natural gas external generator. Both systems performed as expected and kept our servers up and running as we work through this issue. Some schools are experiencing power loss that impacted their local network and phones. As soon as general power is restored, we will begin to work toward restoring all services. Randall Wood Technical Operations Manager Lake Washington School District #414 rwood@lwsd.org"

Katie:  We're about 200 feet or so above ground level and you can see the smoke at 200 feet in this pic as the view is obscured by the trees... so goodness knows what it's doing down there as it still seems pretty condensed this high up. It's still going strong.  ~ 1:25PM
http://photos-b.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/247385_10150206680470044_723450043_7487281_1432660_s.jpg

Sangeeta:  I posted a pic on my wall.....here's the link to my pic...
I hope no one is hurt...
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=7441926&l=acda3a5707&id=585466944

Emily wrote: "view from one of our Ed Hill schools. They have power up here but six schools were out in Kirkland, from what I understand. http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1283642&l=299e66b498&id=506034942"

I tried to drive there at 1PM. Terrible traffic. Traffic lights are down. Don't dirve in Redmond!
Try AM 1650 for city traffic reports. It may be running now.
PLEASE SEND YOUR NEWS, PHOTOS AND VIDEO TO REDMONDBLOG@GMAIL.COM or post your comments under this post. Stay tuned for updates!
-- Bob Yoder, 1:59

http://www.kirotv.com/news/28261363/detail.html

The explosion was reported just before 12:30 p.m. 
 - Richard Morris

Smoke and flames [near] RHJH..... looks like the whole power substation is toast.
 - Greyling Gentry - Rose Hill Junior High neighbor

"The substation  is not the one near Rose Hill Junior High.  It is off of Willows Road, near the district’s support services building."

 -- Kathryn Reith, APRCommunications Director Lake Washington School District 16250 NE 74th Street,  kreith@lwsd.

Kirkland Views/John Gilday