A transformer fire caused an explosion at the Hoover Dam on the Colorado River along the border of U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona Tuesday morning, local authorities said, adding no one was injured in the accident and there was no threat to power supply.
Online video clips from a tourist showed that flames and smoke rose from a turbine house on the Arizona side of the river at the foot of the 225-meter-tall dam.
"Something has just blown up!" a women was heard saying repeatedly in the video, as a tour guide is heard telling the group to find a safe place.
The transformer caught fire at approximately 10 a.m. local time and was extinguished within half an hour, according to the federal Bureau of Reclamation, a federal organization running dams, power plants and canals in the 17 western states, including the Hoover Dam.
"At approx. 10 a.m. PDT, the A5 transformer at Hoover Dam caught fire & was extinguished by @usbr/Hoover fire brigade at approx. 10:30am PDT. There are no injuries to visitors/employees. There is no risk to the power grid. Power is still being generated from the powerhouse," the bureau tweeted.
The Hoover Dam is a concrete arch-gravity dam constructed in the 1930s, which helps provide drinking water to Arizona, Nevada, and part of Mexico and generates electricity for parts of Arizona, California and Nevada.
It's unclear whether high demand for electricity or diminished generating capacity due to low water levels played a role in Tuesday's fire. Officials said they are investigating why the transformer fire began.
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