WALTHAM, MASS. (WHDH) - Three vehicles, two school vans and one car, caught fire in a Waltham parking lot Friday morning.
Officials said around 11:15 a.m., a tractor trailer took wires down in the Milestones Day School parking lot off Totten Pond Road. Crews were unable to put out the fire due to the high voltage distribution lines still being on.
The driver of the tractor trailer was able to get out and wasn’t injured.
“It was just a little tall, the wires may have been drooped down a little bit and it caught part of it, that pulled it down and set off a chain reaction,” Waltham Fire Lieutenant Mike Murphy said.
A spokesperson for Eversource said one of its utility poles then snapped, causing its high voltage energy wires to tumble down.
The Milestones Day School was evacuated. School officials said students were preparing for their regular pickup when the incident happened, delaying that process, but otherwise it was a normal day.
Eversource said power was out to about 600 customers, and one person got stuck in an elevator. Workers at nearby businesses were ordered to stay in place.
Firefighters worked with Eversource to shut down lines and make necessary repairs. Eversource said by 11:20 a.m., they had de-energized all their wires and equipment remotely and power has been restored to nearly all 600 customers originally affected.
All three of the charred cars were hosed down and towed away. No one was in any of the cars that caught fire and no injuries were reported.
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