A small fire next to a telephone pole in Durham was the result an equipment failure that knocked out power to 360 Duke Energy customers on Tuesday morning, officials said.
Durham fire crews responded to 705 E. Lawson St., on North Carolina Central University’s campus, at 12:21 a.m. in reference to a reported transformer fire.
Once on scene, crews found a small grass fire next to a telephone pole there, as well as “a large amount of oil on the ground and covering two cars,” fire officials said.
An NCCU police officer told firefighters on scene that they witnessed the transformer explode. The pole was still smoldering from the explosion.