Downed powerline sparks small brush fire in front of Lynchburg Central General Hospital

UPDATE 4:13 P.M. LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR)– Appalachian Power says they have cleared the wire from the road and restored all customers with power.

According to AEP, the downed wire was reported at around 1:30 p.m. and an outage affected 59 customers in the Thomson Dr. area. It was reported that the outage was due to equipment failure.

At this time, traffic is moving on Thomson Dr. and the wire has been removed from the road.



LYNCHBURG, Va. (WFXR)—The Lynchburg Fire Department says a downed power line started a small brush fire on the intersection of Thomson Drive and Tate Springs Road in front of Centra Lynchburg General Hospital on Friday, July 5.

According to Steve Smallshaw with the Fire Department, crews were on the scene for around half an hour to control and knock down the small brush fire. They set up barricades to stop pedestrians and traffic from coming through the area, as streetlights at the intersection are currently off.

WFXR News on the scene spoke with an individual who was in Centra Lynchburg General Hospital during the incident and said that the lights went out for a short amount of time before the hospital’s generator kicked back in.

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The scene has since been turned over to Appalachian Power. Crews are still working to restore the lights and put the power line back up.

WFXR News reached out to Appalachian Power for a comment, however, they have not responded.

WFXR News will update this story as further information is released.

  • (courtesy, Jemon Haskins/WFXR News)
    (courtesy, Jemon Haskins/WFXR News)
  • (courtesy, Jemon Haskins/WFXR News)
    (courtesy, Jemon Haskins/WFXR News)

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