ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando Utilities Commission safety team’s preliminary investigation of an incident early Thursday that was initially reported as an “unknown explosion” at an OUC substation has been identified as an “arc flash,” the utility said in a statement.
OUC also provided an update on three of its employees taken to the hospital after the Orlando Fire and Police departments responded to the incident at 129 Robinson St. in downtown Orlando.
According to an OUC statement, one of the employees has been released, a second will remain overnight and a third will stay for additional treatment. OUC did not disclose the nature of the employees’ injuries.
An arc flash, according to OUC, “is the light and heat produced as part of an arc fault (sometimes referred to as an electrical flashover), a type of electrical discharge that results from a connection through air to ground or another voltage phase in an electrical system.”
Robinson Street was shut down for a short time due to the investigation but is back open. The police had Garland Avenue and Robinson Street closed off for safety while officers redirected traffic.
Orlando Fire posted on X that 16 units responded to the scene with medical transports.
OUC redirects electricity through centralized substations, where large-scale transformers “step up” the voltage to extremely high levels, according to the company. That powerful electric current travels across transmission lines to local distribution substations, where the voltage is “stepped down” for regional use. Electricity is then stepped down once again through small transformers attached to power lines before it reaches homes or businesses.
A Florida A&M University student, Syni Sparkman, said she was walking to class when she heard an explosion. She said she called 911.
“I was just walking about, and I hear this loud explosion to my right and I was very confused. I thought that it was a car accident, or I thought the train hit somebody or something like that. I wanted to follow up and see, where I could help. I figured news reporters or police, somebody would still be here, so I just wanted to follow up,” she said.
Repost from Spectrum News 13, click here for the full article
