Crime & Safety

Underground Explosion Under Investigation in Highland Park

Tuesday night's blast near York and Figueroa caused a power outage at Luther Burbank Middle School and possibly beyond.

An underground explosion in an electrical vault occurred Tuesday night near York Boulevard and Figueroa Street, and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power and the Los Angeles Fire Department are investigating the cause of the blast.

An entire block of York Boulevard east of Figueroa was closed after the explosion, which occurred around 8 p.m., according to messages posted by the Los Angeles Police Department Northeast Division on its Twitter feed and Facebook page.

A message on the LADWP Twitter feed said that the explosion caused a power outage that would take three to four hours to fix. According to the message, the explosion caused a loss of power supply to only one location identified as a “nearby Jr. High,” presumably a reference to Luther Burbank Middle School. (The school’s phone line was down or constantly busy Wednesday morning.)

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A Twitter message from the local HLP90042 blog suggested that power outages might have extended as far as Avenue 50 south of York.

Patch is awaiting a call back from the LADWP Public Affairs office about the possible cause of the explosion and the full extent of the power outage on Tuesday night.

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