Thousands lose power in substation fire

Passersby report hearing an explosion at the Steamboat substation just before the lights went out around 10 p.m. Wednesday.

"I was inside and I heard a little explosion," said Scott Lawlor, operator of the nearby Steamboat geothermal plant. "Then the other operator called me and said, 'You got a fire.' Then I looked over there and sure enough I saw some flames."

The outage left a homes and businesses from south Reno to Washoe Valley in the dark.

Sierra Pacific crews rerouted power from different lines and began restoring electricity by 11 p.m.

Officials said the transformer fire was fed by cooling oil on the ground, but the cause of the fire was not immediately determined.

The outage caused headaches for law enforcement, who set up control measures to try to prevent motorists from driving through darkened traffic lights.

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