A fire started by a sparking transformer along South Churton Street in Hillsborough led to a brief blaze and hundreds of Duke Energy customers without power on Sunday afternoon.

Videos credited to Sherry Hensley and shared by The News of Orange on social media showed sparks from a utility pole falling and setting the nearby vegetation on fire. The newspaper reported the incident began around 2:15 p.m., with Orange Rural Fire Department ultimately putting out the blaze within two hours. But the dramatic scene across the street from Boone Square captured many drivers’ attention on the road, and even more on social media as the fire unfolded.

An eyewitness to the fire confirmed a similar account to Chapelboro, adding the power line ultimately fell to the ground and caused the fire to further ignite surrounding brush.

The fire happened near a Duke Energy substation off South Churton Street. Afterward, the energy corporation’s outage map reported more than 2,700 Hillsborough customers experiencing a power outage — stemming from the “equipment going offline,” according to the website. As of 5:40 p.m., Duke Energy estimated the power would be restored around 10 p.m.

Photo via the Duke Energy Outage Map, as of 5 p.m.

Chapelboro is working to confirm when the fire was officially put out by the responding Orange Rural Fire Department units.

This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.

 

Featured photo via the Chapel Hill Media Group.

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