• Released by APS External Communications at 5:45 p.m on July 1:
In the aftermath of last night’s electrical accident in downtown Phoenix, APS is mobilizing all needed company resources to build and implement a plan to restore service to four business customers who lost power. The accident will be fully investigated, and APS’s Security and Public Safety organizations are working in coordination with the City of Phoenix to manage lane closures at First Avenue and Washington Street and protect overall public safety in the area.
The four customers without power are the Wells Fargo Tower, the Phoenix Municipal Building, the Maricopa County Administrative Building and the Phoenix Convention Center South Hall. Power should be restored to three of these customers within the next 48 hours. The Wells Fargo tower may be without power for a longer period of time. We are working with all four customers to consider all options including on-site generators. No residential customers are impacted.
This tragic accident took the life of Rick Castillo, a long-time APS electrician, and injured another member of the crew late Sunday night. The two APS employees were replacing a cable in an underground network vault that houses electrical infrastructure. While performing this planned underground construction maintenance, an electrical flash and subsequent fire occurred. The injured employee sustained burns and was transported to the Maricopa County Burn Unit. He has been released and is at home with his family.
Our thoughts and prayers are with our employees and their families at this sad time.
• Released by APS External Communications at 5:45 a.m. on July 1:
We are deeply saddened to report that an APS employee died, and another was injured, in an accident on Sunday night while they were performing planned maintenance. They were working in downtown Phoenix in an underground vault that houses electrical infrastructure. The underground equipment involved serves downtown facilities and venues, some of which are without power today until the area can be deemed safe and repairs can be completed. The cause of the accident will be fully investigated.
Our focus is on the safety of those actively working the scene, the well-being of these employees’ co-workers and families and restoring power safely and quickly once repairs can begin. APS cannot provide an estimated time to have the power back on until more is known at the scene. These are the locations currently without power: Wells Fargo, Phoenix Municipal Building, the Maricopa County Administration Building and Phoenix Civic Plaza South. Additional sites are operating with partial power, including the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown.
APS is working closely with the City of Phoenix police and fire departments, with the fire department leading the on-site unified incident command center.
Header
APS statement on Downtown Phoenix accident
· Released by APS External Communications at 8:00 a.m. on July 5:
As of 7 a.m. today, the Wells Fargo building, the final customer impacted by Sunday’s tragic accident, is now operating on temporary power provided by two generators. These generators will allow the Wells Fargo building to operate while APS makes permanent repairs to equipment damaged in the accident.
We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support from the community, Phoenix Police and Fire Departments, our partners at the City of Phoenix and local businesses in the area. We thank our customers in the downtown corridor for their patience as crews worked around-the-clock to restore power safely.
· Released by APS External Communications at 11:30 p.m. on July 2:
Following the electrical accident in downtown Phoenix late Sunday night, APS crews have been working as quickly and safely as possible around the clock to restore service to the four business customers who lost power. The safety of our employees and those working on-site remains our top priority as we work through restoration efforts.
At 10:51 p.m. today, three of the four customers impacted are now fully restored. Those customers are the Phoenix Municipal Building, the Maricopa County Administrative Building and the Phoenix Convention Center South Hall.
The fourth customer, the Wells Fargo building, will require additional work before full restoration can occur. We are working with the customer to install generators as a temporary solution until permanent repairs can be made. We expect the generators to be delivered early tomorrow morning. Additional work will need to be completed to install the generators, and we expect the power to be temporarily restored by Wednesday evening.
We appreciate the patience of our customers as our crews work tirelessly to restore power.
Related stories
7/1/2019
APS mourns death of employee
Stay up to date with our social channels
Newsroom
View up to date news, articles and stories related to APS in the community.
Copyright © 2024 APS. All rights reserved.
