Driver crashes into transformer, setting fire to St. Paul pub and cutting power to thousands
A beloved St. Paul pub was damaged by fire and thousands of residents lost power overnight when a driver reportedly crashed into a transformer.
Patrick McGovern's Pub on West Seventh Street confirmed in an early morning Facebook post that its distinctive corner "turret" caught on fire "after a careless driver hit a transformer and fled the scene last night."
Images from Minnesota Department of Transportation cameras show the turret well alight in the early hours of the morning.
In the aftermath of the incident, the Xcel Energy outage map showed there were more than 13,000 customers in the St. Paul area without power, mostly in the West Seventh, West Side and Summit Hill neighborhoods.
As of 7:30 a.m., power has been restored to the majority of those households, with just 124 customers still affected.
McGovern's Pub says that nobody was injured in the fire, and that it will post an update when it has more information about the damage.
"For those that have reached out to help, we appreciate you!" the business added.
In a statement, St. Paul Police Department says that the crash actually happened several blocks away from McGovern's, at Irvine Avenue and Ramsey Street, where the driver rolled their vehicle into several power lines, causing a transformer to catch fire, and leaving several live wires on the street when responders arrived at the scene.
Around the same time, police received a report of a live power line down at West Seventh and Chestnut Avenue, next to McGovern's, with a Good Samaritan using his vehicle to block the road to stop anyone from coming into contact with it.
Police requested Xcel Energy shut down the power in the area so the downed wires at both scenes could be safely moved.
"Xcel Energy and Saint Paul Fire will need to weigh in on this, but a theory is that this crash is believed to have caused a power line to come down in the area of W. 7th Street and Chestnut Street near McGovern's," the department said.
"The driver was not located and it is unknown if they were injured or if anyone else was in the vehicle at the time of the crash," St. Paul PD said. "The investigation into who was driving and the circumstances leading to the crash is ongoing."
Patrick McGovern's Pub
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