Entergy and the New Orleans Fire Department are still trying to determine what caused a fire Friday morning at one of its power substations.
The fire startled neighbors in the area who heard what sounded like an explosion, and left them with no power.
“I was scared. I am not going to lie. I was scared,” said Becky Addison, who lives across the street from the substation.
Families in Algiers lost power for hours Friday morning when a fire broke out at an Entergy substation. Eyewitness video shows the black smoke and a ball of flames.
It was about a quarter to nine Friday morning when people who live around an Entergy substation in Algiers heard a loud noise.
“It started sizzling ... popping ... cracking. All of a sudden you got black smoke,” said neighbor Michael Lewis.
“I was in the kitchen cooking, and I heard the popping. Pop, pop, pop, pop,” said Addison.
They went outside and saw billowing, thick, black smoke, flames, and even a fireball coming from the power station on General Meyer and Patterson near the river.
“I stepped outside, and once I stepped outside, boom, I [heard] the explosion. The fire, it was smoking, a lot of smoke, and that's when I noticed that was on fire over there. So, our lights went out,” remembers Addison.
“Well, my neighbor was outside before me. I heard her voice. When I heard her, I came outside, and the whole sky [was] full of smoke, and fire a little bit. Kind of scary. Real scary,” said Lewis.
Nine units from the New Orleans Fire Department got the fire under control in about an hour. About 9,400 people in the surrounding Algiers area had no power for the morning.
“Everything just went dark, like cut off completely, like somebody cut your breakers, or something,” said Addison.
The power being down meant that wastewater lift stations could not perform their tasks. So, all of Algiers was asked to limit doing things in the house like laundry, dishwashing, bathing, and using the bathrooms.
The Sewerage and Water Board began moving backup generators into place, but just before 1:00 Friday afternoon, power was restored, and there were no reports of backup waste.
The fire department says there were no injuries in the fire.
At this time, there is no evidence that a wild animal came in contact with the power station.