A small explosion and fire at the top of utility pole on Hempstead Avenue led to widespread but brief power outages across town as dusk fell on Sunday night. No one was injured.
The outage led to blank TV screens as many residents were enjoying NFL football, shut down many elaborate Halloween lawn displays and interrupted dinnertime as PSEG-LI workers raced to the scene and police sealed off Hempstead Avenue between Colony and Spruce Streets.
Echo quickly responded to the scene and found the blown transformer still sending sparks to the street below, with acrid smoke in the air and people standing in the light rain outside Alex’s barbershop across the street to observe the spectacle. Area residents reported hearing a loud sizzling sound and seeing a flash prior to the power outage, and some said there were signs of the transformer overheating for several minutes prior.
As of 6:45 power had largely been restored.
