A fire atop an electric utility pole next to River Park Hospital left the eastern part of McMinnville in the dark Monday afternoon.
“It affected approximately 333 customers,” said McMinnville Electric System general manager and CEO Rodney Boyd, dispelling the myth it was a transformer that blew up during the heavy rain storm around 4 p.m. Monday. “It wasn’t a transformer. It was an oil switch that caught fire.”
Witnesses reported hearing an explosion and seeing fire atop the utility pole that was located next to River Park Hospital. Lights flickered around town and areas surrounding the incident were plunged into darkness.
“We saw the same thing here at MES, but it so happened one of our employees was passing by there and was able to communicate what had happened and what was needed to fix the problem,” said Boyd, noting the fire was actually the oil burning from the oil switch.
An oil switch is used to prevent arching when electric current is switched off and on atop the utility pole, kind of like a household electric switch. “There was an internal failure and oxygen was able to get in the system, allowing fire to erupt,” Boyd said.
Power was restored to customers about 30 minutes later. Businesses affected by the incident included River Park Hospital, Oster and Three Star Mall. Traffic lights in the area were also impacted. Boyd noted the line where the oil switch failed serves a relatively small area.