Video of Electrical Fire

I was working on my computer when I noticed that my UPS was turning on and off every few seconds (meaning the power was going out and on a lot).

So to be safe I turned off the power on my computer and went outside. I heard a pretty loud popping noise and smelled smoke from my neighbor’s backyard so I went to their backyard and saw the flames coming from the electrical box. My neighbor was outside and had just called 911.

I made sure the girls were safe and grabbed my camera and shot this video from over the fence as the fire crew put out the fire.

What happened was the ground had shifted and pulled the wires off of there electric meter causing it to make contact and then not make contact (arcing). This went on for at least 10 minutes, I am surprised that the transformer that shares both of our houses didn’t trip much earlier.

The fireman and Xcel employee looked at my box on our house after he fixed the fuse on the transformer in our backyard and said ours looks fine. In Superior they have about 8 of these types of fires a year the fireman told me because of the shifting soil.