Failed regulator causes widespread power outage in Studio City

STUDIO CITY, LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Thousands were without power in Studio City due to a failed regulator Wednesday evening, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department.

As of Thursday morning, around 1,500 Los Angeles Department of Water and Power customers remained without power. Utility officials said they expect full restoration of power sometime Thursday.

About 8,700 customers in the Studio City and Sherman Oaks areas were initially without power in the area when the failure occurred around 9:15 p.m., the LADWP said.

The official in charge of LADWP's power system operations said it was a regulator inside their facility that failed catastrophically.

The failure was followed by an arc that sounded like an explosion and a big flash.

Fire officials described the incident as an explosion that occurred at an electrical substation in the 4200 block of Coldwater Canyon Avenue. As a result, LADWP said all power served by the utility's Electric Distributing Station 49 was interrupted.

"All of a sudden, we saw lights flickering. Flickered a couple times, and then everything went pitch black," said area resident Trish Wiener. "We heard a large explosion.

Wiener lives just across the street from LADWP's electric distributing station on Coldwater Canyon.

"Went and looked out our window and saw smoke, black smoke pluming out of the DWP," Wiener said.

The pace to restore power was slowed down due to hazardous conditions inside the facility.

"Oil sprayed, spilled oil onto the ground inside the station, so that all has to be cleaned up. The heat caused some damage to other equipment, and that all has to be repaired," said Andrew Kendall with LADWP.

Northbound lanes of Coldwater Canyon was closed in the area as crews work to restore power.

There were no reports of injuries.