An underground electrical fire in downtown Tallahassee damaged pavement, darkened traffic signals, and closed roads across a central stretch of Florida's capital city, WTXL reported.
The disruption interrupted county services and forced the Leon County Courthouse and Leon County Annex to close as crews worked to repair damaged underground infrastructure.
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Emergency repairs began after agencies cut electric service around Monroe Street and Apalachee Parkway, where first responders encountered visible road damage and several burning spots in the street, according to WTXL.
Officials later ruled out a possible gas leak as the cause of the subterranean blaze.
Closures spread across downtown, including Monroe Street between Jefferson Street and Apalachee Parkway and nearby Calhoun Street, according to WTXL. With signals down and nearby buildings affected by the outage, traffic backed up in the area. Earlier in the day, the Tallahassee Police Department said portions of Monroe Street might reopen in the afternoon, and the city reported at 12:29 p.m. that northbound lanes had reopened.
City leaders also announced that power had been restored downtown and that Monroe Street repairs were complete, with area traffic lights reenergized and the roadway reopened. A comprehensive root-cause analysis was underway, per WTXL.
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The underground blaze also impacted network connections, and officials warned that some services may remain limited until network connectivity was restored, according to WTXL.
More background
Leon County said the fire also hit county infrastructure, including fiber-optic lines, disrupting several public-facing services — including certain county phone lines, the county website, text-to-911, and visits at the Leon County Detention Facility, WTXL reported.
Officials warned that county phone numbers starting with 606 might work only sporadically, and LeonCountyFL.gov was available intermittently.
The county said the Augustus D. Aikens Jr. Leon County Courthouse and Leon County Annex would reopen to the public the following day, according to WTXL, though some courthouse services could still be limited until full network connectivity was restored.
"County teams will be working overnight to restore full network connectivity, and we will keep the public informed as that work continues," Leon County Commission Chairman Christian Caban said in a news release. "We are grateful to the first responders and emergency personnel who have worked throughout this incident to protect the public and restore essential services."
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Such emergencies can snarl traffic and disrupt daily life.
• Miami brush fires shut part of the Turnpike as crews battled heat and storms.
• During a Florida blackout, a portable generator nearly killed a homeowner with carbon monoxide.
• In Big Cypress National Preserve, a 25,000-acre wildfire spread through dangerously dry swamp.
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