Power restored for nearly 12K customers after Matthews substation fire

MATTHEWS, N.C. — Power has been restored for nearly 12,000 customers in Matthews after a fire at a Duke Energy substation knocked it out Friday morning.

Just before 8 a.m., the utility company’s outage map showed 27 active outages in Matthews with 11,692 customers who didn’t have power.

As of noon, the outage map showed the power was back on.

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Chopper 9 Skyzoom: Matthews power plant fire Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the Matthews power plant after the Friday morning fire. (WSOC)

Chopper 9 Skyzoom flew over the scene and a huge plume of smoke could be seen coming from the area at the time of the outages. The Stallings Fire Department confirmed the fire was at the Duke Energy substation off Old Monroe Road, near Interstate 485.

Duke Energy said the fire happened on a “portable piece of equipment” that was part of maintenance work at the substation.

“The main substation does not appear to be affected and operators are currently working to explore ways to switch power from the portable system back to our main equipment and restore power,” a Duke Energy spokesperson shared just before 8:45 a.m. “That work will probably take at least a couple of hours and I think the estimated time of restoration is currently 10:45 a.m.”

Crews from Matthews, Unionville, Waxhaw, Stallings and Charlotte all went to the scene. The flames spread so quickly, crews had to use foam trucks from Charlotte Fire to get it under control.

Paramedics also responded, but officials said they didn’t take anyone to the hospital.

From homes, to the grocery story and even nearby animal clinics -- a lot of people were impacted.

“It was just a short flicker. The lights just seemed to click, click. I thought it was probably light that was going out and then all of a sudden, the printer would not work, and then one of our computers wouldn’t come on, because it said there was a network error. It’s taken about three hours to get it back up and running. It’s been a real pain,” said Jeannie Saxon, who works at Matthews Animal Clinic.

The power outage also created a massive headache at some of the busiest intersections.

Police said East John Street downtown was closed from I-485 to Stallings Road for several hours because of the power station fire. They asked drivers to treat traffic lights that were out as four-way stops.

Channel 9 has also reached out to the Matthews Fire Department for more information.

The town of Indian Trail also reported power outages and traffic lights that were out, causing delays.

“If you are traveling in the area, leave yourself extra time,” Indian Trail officials said in a tweet.

No other details have been released.

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What to keep and throw out after a power outage (NCD)

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