COBB COUNTY, Ga. — A transformer fire at a Georgia Power plant led to reports of explosions throughout a Cobb County neighborhood.
Channel 2 Action News received several messages from people who live near Georgia Power’s Plant-McDonough Atinkson saying they heard or felt some kind of explosion Sunday night.
Cobb County Fire and Emergency Services confirmed that crews battled a fire at the plant off South Cobb Drive. Channel 2 received an updated statement from Georgia Power:
“The transformer fire, which started and was contained within the Plant McDonough switchyard last night, has been extinguished. We have confirmed that there were no injuries as a result of the fire. Additionally, our power delivery system functioned as designed and there were no extended customer power outages as a result of this incident. The safety of our facilities and employees is our top priority every day. We are working to determine the exact cause of the fire but we believe it was the result of equipment failure related to the transformer. We appreciate the response, professionalism and hard work of fire personnel and other first responders as well as our employees in safely responding to this event.”
What caused the explosions and fire are still under investigation.
Channel 2 Action News spoke with a number of neighbors who were worried once they saw the fire and plumes of smoke and embers so close, that they voluntarily packed up and evacuated.
“Heard of number of popping noises and all kind of came out right when the big explosion happened over that way… big fireball into the air. Pretty impressive, pretty crazy,” said neighbor Joey Jarrell.
We have confirmed that there is a transformer fire contained within the switchyard at Plant McDonough tonight – there is no fire inside the plant structure itself. There are no known injuries & fire dept. is onsite. 1/2
— Georgia Power (@GeorgiaPower) September 7, 2020
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“When we looked outside our back window, the flames were up above the trees here. Before any fire crews got here or anything, it was intense,” said witness Shelby Watson.
A Cobb fire spokesman said they first received 911 calls around 11:28 p.m. Sunday night. Crews arrived on the scene minutes later, where they saw the heavy smoke and flames.
“Explosions are still under investigation. Right now crews are getting the fire knocked down so they can get close enough to further investigate,” Nick Danz said.
Danz said several units battled the two-alarm fire and hazmat crews were also called in.
Georgia Power told Cobb emergency services there were no injuries and everyone who was working was accounted for.
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