Some 15,000 customers in Prince George’s County, Maryland, lost power after a fire at a Pepco substation Tuesday.
As of 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, around 2,000 customers are still without power.
The utility hasn’t shared its plan for restoring power to the thousands that remain in the dark.
The fire is believed to have started around 4 p.m. on Tuesday at the substation along Crain Highway, Pepco said. After the fire sparked, a spokesperson told WTOP that local firefighters were called to the substation, and the station needed to be deenergized.
The fire has since been doused.
In addition to customers in Upper Marlboro, those in Rosaryville, Marlton, Croom, Queensland, Marlboro Village, Meadows, Westphalia, Largo and Kettering were also affected.
“We understand how disruptive this can be; we are working safely and as quickly as we can to restore service,” the utility said.
While estimates for service restoration are not yet available, the company said it is “working to determine opportunities to reroute electricity to restore service safely for impacted customers.”
Pepco said the cause of the fire is not yet known and will be investigated.
Drivers in the area of Upper Marlboro have also reported an increasing number of traffic signal issues near and along Route 301. Impacts on local traffic stretched through large intersections like Marlboro Pike and Croom Road, with lights out several miles from the substation.
Maryland State Police were directing traffic around the area of Marlboro Pike after signal lights in the area were affected.
Officials said traffic control outside of major intersections could be established depending on how long the outage lasts. Drivers should exercise extra care and caution while traveling through these dark roadways.
