Waltham hit by power surge that may have caused house fires
WALTHAM - A power surge in Waltham may have caused at least two fires and knocked out electricity to thousands Monday morning.
"Eversource has experienced a power surge in the city. This has impacted various areas of the city," the fire department said. "Street lights and Traffic signals have been [a]ffected and may be out for some time. Use caution while traveling throughout the city."
Residents say there was a similar incident in October when they suddenly lost power - now they're concerned about a possible pattern. Representatives from Eversource and the Waltham Fire Department went door-to-door telling some people to turn their breakers off as a safety precaution.
Neighbors said they woke up to a bang, and two houses in flames on School Avenue. Then the power went out.
"It went fast and the flames were billowing out the front door," one person who saw the fire said.
Another said a neighbor knocked on doors to make sure everyone got out safely.
"I'm shocked, I'm shocked. I was inside, and before you know it, I left, come back, got a phone call said your house is on fire," said the owner of the two-family home, Raimondo Alonge.
The fire chief says there were dozens of calls about blown power strips. Anyone who has a damaged power strip should throw it out and replace it.
"When is enough, enough," said Tricia Hurley, who was impacted by Waltham's last big power surge in October. "I want more than answers. I think we need to start cracking down," she said.
Waltham Mayor Jeannette McCarthy says the fact that this is happening again is "troubling."
"We've got to get the bottom of it because we can't keep having all these power surges because it affects a lot of people, blows out a lot of traffic lights, blows out everything," she said.
There were originally about 6,000 customers impacted but it was down to just a handful by the afternoon. Power was then shut off to the Grove Street area as crews investigated the problem.
"We want to make sure that our customers know right now, we have made the area safe," said Eversource spokesperson Chris McKinnon. "We're really working on getting to the bottom of what caused this."