Electrical fire in Long Beach causes power outage — and light show

Long Beach firefighters rushed to the scene of an electrical fire on Wednesday night that lit up West Broadway and caused partial power outages at a nearby apartment building.

The incident, in which an electrical pole shot sparks and heavy flashes of light, occurred on the corner of Magnolia Boulevard at 10:34 p.m., next to 175 W. Broadway, a 60-unit apartment building for senior citizens run by the Long Beach Housing Authority.

No injuries were reported, but video of the fire quickly spread on Facebook.

“You see what we found [in the video],” Fire Commissioner Scott Kemins said. “[Firefighters] remained on the scene to make sure everything was safe until PSEG got there. There was some power out in the area. The Fire Department left the scene at 11:56 p.m. With all the storms over the last couple of days between the wind, it could have been anything."

Jeremy Walsh, a spokesman for PSEG-LI, told the Herald on Thursday that the utility received a call from a customer at 170 W. Broadway, an apartment building across the street from the fire, just after 11:00 p.m. saying that they had partially lost power.

“Our crews responded,” Walsh said. “They determined that a low voltage line that only serviced that building had failed. The crews had a generator hooked up and running by 3:45 a.m. Permanent repairs will be finished later today.”