West Hartford Fire Department officials said that there is no apparent cause for the broken utility pole.

By Ronni Newton

A portion of Shield Street was closed to traffic Wednesday as crews worked to clean up debris resulting from three transformers that crashed to the ground, spilling oil, West Hartford Fire Chief Greg Priest said.

According to Priest, catastrophic damage to three transformers occurred Wednesday morning for an unknown reason, causing a portion of a utility pole in the vicinity of 80 Shield St. in the eastern portion of West Hartford, to break off, sending the transformers as well as power lines crashing to the ground.

Lines landed on several unoccupied cars, and oil spilled from the damaged transformers, Priest said.

There were no injuries, and there is no current threat to public safety, but the roadway is closed to traffic while clean-up and repairs are taking place and Priest asked people to avoid the area.

West Hartford Fire, West Hartford Police, and Public Works officials are on the scene. Eversource is also at the site, along with representatives of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), which was called in to respond to the oil spill.

There are currently 89 customers without power.

An estimate for clean-up time and power restoration was not provided.

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