An overnight hydro station fire has left thousands of Toronto residents without power.
Toronto Fire said they received a call for an incident at Finch Transmission Station, located on Finch Avenue West and Signet Drive, just after midnight Friday.
Police explained they were responding to an “explosion call” and there were “significant flames on the ground.”
When fire crews arrived, they found a vault on fire and were instructed by hydro crews to not pour water on the fire until the station could be deenergized, Toronto Fire said.
Once hydro workers arrived about one hour later, fire crews started pouring water on the fire. It was mostly put out just before 4 a.m., authorities said.
At the initial time of the call, about 35,000 customers were without power. 3,000 customers remained without power as of 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon.
In morning tweets, Toronto Hydro noted that “no restoration time is available” for those without power in the “Steeles/401/Kipling/Dufferin” area.
They added that the outage may be prolonged.
Toronto Fire said crews on scene are continuing to put out hot spots.
Signet Drive is closed from Finch Avenue to High Meadow Place and northbound Arrow Road is closed from Deerhide Crescent to Finch Avenue.
Photos and videos of the fire showed flames rising several metres high.