SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — About 300 people, many of them elderly, were evacuated from Sacramento high-rise buildings on Tuesday after six blocks of the downtown area lost power because of a fire at an electrical substation, authorities said.
The blaze shortly before noon started in a transformer and went into the substation building, fire officials said. It sent a thick column of smoke over the area. No injuries were reported but the fire knocked out power to about 1,300 customers.
There was no immediate word when power would be restored and some buildings in the area were operating with backup generators.
Tuesday night, elderly residents were removed from a 12-story senior housing complex run by the city’s redevelopment agency.
Some need ventilators to breathe, a city statement said.
The building lacked a backup generator, the heating was off and the fire suppression system couldn’t operate without power, fire spokesman Capt. Keith Wade said.
“In the event of a fire, sprinklers wouldn’t work,” Wade told the Sacramento Bee.
At least one other building also was evacuated, authorities said.
Evacuees were offered shelter at City Hall and while the most medically frail were placed in motels, the city said.
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