Natural Gas Fire and Jeep Fire After Lightning Strike Brings Down Power Line, Transformer on Johnson St Near Cedar St, Palatine

Jun 1, 2019 06:46 pm Cardinal News FIRE BLOG B Comments Off

Jeep on fire after being ignited from radiant heat of gas flame out of ground (PHOTO CREDIT: Tyler Powell).

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Palatine police and firefighter/paramedics responded about 5:07 PM Saturday June 1, 2019 to a report of a downed power line and downed transformer after a lightning strike on Johnson Street east of the intersection of Johnson Street and Cedar Street Palatine, Il. Police and firefighter/paramedics arrived to find a downed power line with an underground natural gas line ignited. The fire was threatening a Jeep, but the fire could not be extinguished because of the energized downed power line which was still active with arcing. Firefighters could also smell natural gas as the fire was burning and as the downed power line was actively arcing.

A second power line also fell as firefighters were on the scene.

Firefighters also had to be careful not to extinguish the natural gas fire before Nicor shut down the gas line — to prevent gas from building up and flaring up if it were ignited again.

The natural gas-fed fire eventually ignited the Jeep with it first showing signs of igniting at about 5:37 p.m.

ComEd arrived about 5:40 p.m.

Firefighters had water on the fire by about 5:44 p.m. ComEd cut off the power at about 5:51 p.m. The vehicle fire was extinguished by about 5:53 p.m.

There were no injuries reported and firefighters were standing by to extinguish the gas fire as soon as Nicor cut off the gas supply. Nicor was also checking gas levels in the interior of nearby buildings — especially basements.

An unknown number of people were evacuated from their homes.

ComEd reported 129 customers were without power near the Johnson Street incident. Over 700 people were without power in other neighborhoods of Palatine after the storm blew through the area about 5:20 p.m.

Johnson Street and Cedar Street, Palatine
Customers Affected: 129
Crew Status: Additional Crews Dispatched
Probable Cause: Damaged Power Line(s)
Estimated Restoration: Jun 1, 7:30 PM