Pittsburgh (WPXI) — It was a frightening night for some residents of Pittsburgh Monday as flames could be seen for several miles as first responders battled a large fire on Brunot Island, which is a small piece of land in the Ohio River that houses a power plant.
Authorities say a specialized transformer had reportedly failed and caught fire.
Firefighters had to take a ferry to the island to extinguish the flames.
Officials say they worked through the night to control the flames as oil inside the reactor burned.
"We arrived with our crews and had a large fire and some small detonations happening on the island as a result of the reactor failure. This is a catastrophic failure of a reactor which is part of the power grid,” said assistant chief of the Pittsburgh Fire Department Brian Kokkila.
"There was a bunch of black smoke coming down Carson Street right here. You could see a header down in Sheridan. And then I got here, and you could see flames and heavy smoke pouring down the river,” one resident said.
Officials say no one was injured in the incident and investigators are working to determine what led to the failure.
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