From Al Goodman
CNN Madrid Bureau Chief
| Firefighters are engulfed in smoke as they work from a crane at an electrical substation. | ||
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MADRID, Spain (CNN) -- A fire producing thick plumes of black smoke has knocked out power in parts of central Madrid and caused traffic gridlock.
The blackout started shortly before 2 p.m. (1200 GMT) Thursday and hit the Madrid Stock Market, the famed Prado art museum, the nearby five-star Hotel Ritz and Hotel Palace, and businesses in the Atocha train station.
Four rescue workers were slightly injured by smoke inhalation, Madrid Deputy Mayor Manuel Cobos said.
About 13,000 customers in central Madrid lost power, Union Fenosa spokesman Jose Manuel Velasco said.
Some buildings on the narrow streets in old Madrid near the fire were evacuated, and lunch-hour traffic was gridlocked during the initial part of the blaze.
The fire at Union Fenosa's "Mediodia" electrical substation could have been caused by a new transformer that had been due to come online Thursday.
When the fire broke out, the new transformer was receiving energy but not yet transforming it into power for the electrical grid, Velasco said.
He said the fire was under control but not extinguished by 7:30 p.m. Refrigeration oil used to cool the two older transformers at the substation continued to burn throughout much of the afternoon, sending clouds of smoke into the sunny Madrid skies, he said.
By early evening, power had been restored to about 7,000 customers, including principal institutions and commercial locations. Most of the others still without power were residential customers, Velasco said.
Parliament lost power soon after the fire began, interrupting hearings into the Madrid train bombings. The hearings resumed when the power was restored about an hour later but were interrupted by another outage.
A reporter for CNN partner station CNN+, on the scene while the fire raged, described hearing what sounded like several explosions at the electrical substation.
Velasco dismissed speculation that the fire was due to a power overload at the substation, which he said was operating at only 75 percent capacity when the blaze started.
The temperature in Madrid at midday Thursday was about 31 degrees Celsius (88 Fahrenheit), cooler than a blistering heat wave that had gripped the capital in the early part of last week.
