Power plant fire causes blackouts in St. Louis

In downtown St. Louis, Missouri a fire caused several electrical explosions at the Ameren U E plant, Thursday

VENICE, Illinois (CNN) -- A fire at a power station on Thursday night knocked out electricity to several sections of downtown St. Louis, snarling traffic and closing at least one bridge on the Mississippi River.

The fire at the Ameren U E plant and substation began at 6 p.m. (7 p.m. EDT) when an oil leak on the plant floor somehow burst into flames, said Ameren spokesman Tim Fox. All 24 employees got out of the building safely, he said.

The fire caused several electrical explosions and firefighters had difficulty reaching the source of the flames because of the electricity involved. Fox said fire crews planned to let the fire die down before trying to get in close.

The incident cut off power to about 8,000 customers in Venice and downtown St. Louis, which is just across the river.

A spokesman for the St. Louis police said his station house was running on an emergency generator. He said several miles of the city were "pitch black," with no streetlights and no traffic lights.

Nearly 8,000 customers in Venice and downtown St. Louis are without electrical power

Spokeswomen for St. Louis University Hospital and St. Mary's Health Center said their facilities were not affected by the outages.

Fox said it was impossible to tell when the fire at the 429-megawatt plant would be extinguished or when the power outages would be repaired.

He said the plant is mostly used as a "peaking plant," for periods of high demand, but the problem there shut down three substations in the city of St. Louis.

Ameren U E was formed in 1998 with the merger of Union Electric and Illinois Public Service.

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