Video of downed power line arcing in a backyard near a large tree in the 600 block of South Roosevelt Avenue Wednesday night.
Arlington Heights firefighters responded about 9:00 p.m. Wednesday to an electrical power line down in the backyard of a home in the 600 block of South Roosevelt. large flashes of light lit the tops of trees as the power was grounding into a backyard. A significant arcing display lit up the backyard and block for an entire 30 minutes while neighbors came outside to see the spectacle. The power line arced to the ground and possibly a tree. Occasionally sparks could be seen going upward like a Roman candle. A wire could also be seen dangling near the rear property line.
Firefighters waited until about 9:30 p.m. for power to be cut to the area, so a Com Ed worker could begin to repair the line.
Police and firefighters sealed off the danger zone. Firefighters checked the backyards throughout the block to make sure there weren’t any other ignition points or downed wires behind other addresses. Firefighters also kept people from getting to backyards on the Cleveland Avenue side of the scene. A second downed line was discovered by a firefighter in the backyard of the house behind the house where the brightest arcing was occurring.
Possibly part of a cascade effect, another transformer was reported to have exploded near Lincoln and Meier in Mount Prospect, just after 9:30 p.m. and about the time that the arching stopped on the 600 block of South Roosevelt Avenue in Arlington Heights.
Power was out from Northwest Highway to Belmont Avenue to Central and at least Cleveland Avenue and maybe further east. An outage also occurred South of Central Road and in Mount Prospect near Lincoln and Meier.
Video is uploaded and processing.
Video by midnight.