Bernell DorroughDarkness fell over the South 40 Thursday night after an electrical pole at the corner of Wydown and Big Bend caught fire at approximately 6:15 p.m. The fire left thousands of students without power for the duration of the night.
Clayton fire trucks and police from University City and Clayton arrived at the scene soon after the fire started. The pole connected high-tension power lines carrying 4,800 volts of electricity, said Mark Thorp, chief of the Clayton Fire Department.
Police blocked all traffic along Big Bend Boulevard due to concerns the pole could possibly fall and cause significant damage. As a result, traffic slowed to a crawl along Wydown, Forsyth, and Big Bend.
The fire department then shut off the remaining power and proceeded to put out the remnants of the fire as the pole continued to emit bursts of electricity.
More water than anticipated was required to extinguish the fire, so the department had to switch from the truck’s water supply to the hydrant and change platform crews. The remaining embers were put out around 7 p.m.
By midnight, power still had not been restored to the South 40, and the power was not expected to come on until around 3 a.m. Thorp said the pole’s top lines, which connect power systems among several counties, would remain off until today as a safety precaution.
On campus, battery backup units for the card access system were expected to only last a few hours. As a result, the Office of Residential Life had to post RAs outside all residence halls for much of the night to let students in and out of the buildings.
At the time of publication, the cause of the fire was still unknown. Thorp would not comment on any speculations.