Pedestrian seriously injured when transformer falls, catches fire in Lexington

A pole holding a bank of transformers snapped and caught fire Thursday afternoon in Lexington, and falling debris seriously injured a pedestrian, according to fire officials.

Firefighters were called to the transformer fire in the 300 block of West New Circle Road, near Russell Cave Road, just after 1:30 p.m., Maj. Jordan Saas said. The pedestrian was taken to a Lexington hospital with serious injuries, Saas said.

As of about 2:30 p.m., it was not yet clear whether wind caused the pole to snap, Saas said.

Fire officials were waiting for Kentucky Utilities workers to arrive and shut off power to the transformers before they could put out the fire, Saas said.

No roads were impacted, but some in the area could temporarily lose power, Saas said.

This story was originally published March 14, 2019 at 2:46 PM.