An explosion reported at Hoover Dam was caused by an electrical transformer that caught fire on Tuesday morning, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation said.
Firefighters have extinguished the blaze and there were no injuries to visitors or employees, according to a bureau statement. The cause of the fire is under investigation. The dam continues to produce electricity with no risk to the power grid.
A transformer on one of America's tallest dams briefly caught fire on Tuesday morning before the Hoover Dam fire brigade extinguished the flames.
“There is no risk to the power grid and power is still being generated from the powerhouse. “We arrived to the scene and turned away. The blaze was extinguished within about 30 minutes before firefighters from the Boulder City fire department arrived on scene, the Nevada city reported on Facebook.
LAS VEGAS — On the morning of Tuesday, July 19, a transformer at the Hoover Dam caught fire, causing an explosion and smoke.
A transformer at the dam caught fire shortly after 10 am, the Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement. By 10.30am the fire had been extinguished by members of ...
A transformer at the dam caught fire shortly after 10 am, the Bureau of Reclamation said in a statement. No additional information about the incident has been released. By 10.30am the fire had been extinguished by members of the bureau and the Hoover fire brigade.
The Lower Colorado Regional Director at the Bureau of Reclamation confirmed that no visitors or employees were hurt in the explosion and fire.
The dam measures 726.4 ft in height above bedrock, the size of a 60-storey building. The Bureau of Reclamation says that during peak electricity periods, enough water runs through the generators to fill 15 average-sized swimming pools – 20,000 gallons each – in one second. The Hoover Dam just had an explosion. Texas Democratic congressional candidate Russell Foster tweeted: “Texas and the American West is on fire. There is no risk to the power grid and power is still being generated from the powerhouse,” she added. “There are no injuries to visitors or employees.
A transformer exploded Tuesday at the landmark, producing a cloud of thick, black smoke and flames that were quickly extinguished. No one was hurt and the ...
The power produced at the site is transferred to a substation where it's marketed through the Western Area Power Administration. Drought and climate change have sunk the lakes to their lowest levels in decades. "A ton of black smoke just exploded in the air. The administration markets power from 57 federal hydroelectric facilities. It captured the attention of tourists who said they heard an alarm sound and felt the ground rumble beneath them. "I was really surprised and I started filming."
Officials say no one was injured when a transformer at Hoover Dam briefly caught fire Tuesday morning.
It referred additional questions to the Bureau of Reclamation and Hoover Dam. The cause of the fire is under investigation. “There is no risk to the power grid and power is still being generated,” according to Jacklynn L. Gould, the Bureau of Reclamation's regional director for the Lower Colorado Region.
PLUMES OF SMOKE can be seen in footage circulating on social media after an apparent explosion at the Hoover Dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River.
The circumstances of Tuesday's incident remain unclear. At its height, the lake surface sits over 1,200 feet above sea level. Alarm sirens could be heard in a second video.