ComEd emergency crews responded about 1:58 p.m. Wednesday, November 20, 2024 when a property maintenance company working at a condominium community in the block of 1600 North Douglas Court hit an underground power line. A crew was using excavators in the backyards of condominium townhomes, where trees were being removed and other property maintenance tasks were underway, when an excavator hit the underground power line. Most customers that lost power were located near the block of 1600 North Douglas Court in Arlington Heights. About 200 customers lost power in the neighborhood south of excavation accident. Two other locations were affected — one location near Rand Road and Hintz Road, where less than 30 customers lost power, and another neighborhood just west of Lake Arlington, where about 100 ComEd customers lost power.
ComEd responded immediately to isolate the extent of the power outage — both automatically and with crews that made repairs at the three outage sites.
Only 7 customers were without power near the excavation accident site around 4:00 p.m. Another 23 customers were without power near Redwood Lane and Spruce Terrace north of the scene, according to the ComEd outage map.
Firefighters were not assigned to the scene of the cut power line. Witnesses in the neighborhood heard a loud explosion like a shotgun blast at about 1:58 p.m. which may have been a fuse that blew on Arlington Heights Road at the middle of the block between Maude Avenue and Lynnwood Avenue.
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