An overnight battery fire at a Cleveland Public Power substation led to power outages Tuesday at city buildings and businesses across downtown and parts of the East Side.
The battery overheated and started a fire at CPP’s Lake Road substation, the facility on North Marginal Drive recognizable for its large mural of whales. The city-owned electric utility shut down power at the substation just before 4 a.m. “to ensure safety of personnel and protect the substation equipment,” a news release said.
“We estimate that more than 3,000 customers are currently without service,” CPP said in a Facebook post Tuesday afternoon. “The goal is to restore power today, the timeline is uncertain.”
The outages stretch from the Warehouse District to University Circle, Mount Pleasant and part of Collinwood, an online CPP service area map showed Tuesday morning. A number of traffic lights were also out around downtown and the East Side.
Cleveland Public Auditorium, the Huntington Convention Center of Cleveland, police headquarters, the FBI building, Browns Stadium and the East Side Market were all without power this morning, CPP said. Read the full list from CPP below.
Power outages also led Cuyahoga County to announce the closure to the public Tuesday of its headquarters, the Jane Edna Hunter building and the Virgil E. Brown building. Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court and Cleveland Municipal Court, which are based in the Justice Center, are open to essential staff only, a news release from the court said.
Outages have left the Justice Center courts complex and jail without air conditioning, the county said in a news release. The CPP outage hit Cleveland Thermal, which provides cold water many downtown buildings, including the Justice Center and City Hall. [Note: This story was updated to include that Cleveland Thermal provides chilled water, not power.]
Jail staff and county officials have lined up pallets of water, ice and industrial fans for people in the building, a news release from the county said. Jail will also have additional shower access.
“All Corrections Center staff members are educated on the signs and symptoms of heat related illness,” the news release read. “Corrections Center medical staff members are working in collaboration with MetroHealth to identify heat-sensitive residents who may require additional healthcare services.”
According to Cleveland Public Power, the outages hit the following buildings:
- Police HQ
- Public Auditorium
- Lexington Village
- Manufacturing on Marquette
- Case Western East Blvd. Garage
- Glenville Plaza
- Kirtland
- Cleveland Thermal
- Gillespie East
- Convention Center
- Kovacic NCRC
- University Circle Apts.
- Windsor Sub
- E 53rd St Sub
- East Side Market
- Browns Stadium
- Burke Airport
- East Bank Flats
- Science Center
- Willard Garage
- FBI Building
- Oswald Building
- RTA Station at E. 21st & Prospect
