WESTFIELD – An unoccupied vehicle parked in a driveway on Little River Road was damaged late Friday morning when an energized overhead power line fell on the vehicle.
City police report that a caller reported at 11:30 a.m. that a vehicle was on fire and a second caller reported a minute later that an electrical transformer had exploded and may have ignited a car.
Officer Dermot Hurley was the first to arrive at the scene and firefighters arrived from the Little River sub station seconds later.
Hurley reports that an energized power line was lying across the scorched vehicle and was sparking. The vehicle was scorched by the electricity arcing from the wire but no serious damage to the vehicle was reported.
Hurley reports that and the sparks from the wire had had ignited ground vegetation in three places but no significant fire resulted.
A Gas and Electric Light Department crew arrived in less than 10 minutes and Officer Luis Morales was dispatched to assist with traffic as the accident until the G&E workers were able to use a portable generator to restore power to the traffic lights.
Hurley reports that the cause of the power line failure was not immediately determined.
