June 25 – A power outage caused by a feeder line problem, immediately followed by numerous fire calls, kept Virginia area firefighters extremely busy this morning. The action began around 11:30 when the outage occurred and a fire was reported in the roof air conditioning unit at the Super One-North grocery store on 6th Avenue North in Virginia. A fire was then reported at the Arrowhead Economic Opportunity Agency’s Youth Foyer building on 12th Street South in Virginia, followed by a report of smoke in the Northern State Bank in Downtown Virginia. Firefighters also checked on smoke conditions in the bank’s processing center on Chestnut Street in the downtown area. All of the fire calls were minor in nature with all fire departments returning to service within an hour. No injuries were reported. According to Virginia Fire Chief Allen Lewis, a Minnesota Power feeder line had two phases burn out, causing the line voltage to go from 22,000 to 8,000 volts and from three phase to one phase current. This change resulted in overheated motors and HVAC units. The cause of feeder line problem remains under investigation. The Virginia, Mountain Iron, Eveleth, Gilbert, Fayal Township, Pike-Sandy-Britt, and Hibbing fire departments responded to the calls. “We got slammed,” said Chief Lewis. “The other fire departments really helped us out a lot. It was a great team effort on everyone’s part.”
A Virginia firefighter on the roof of the Super One-North grocery store.
Virginia’s Ladder 1 is positioned on the back side of the Super One-North grocery store in Virginia as firefighters check out the building’s roof HVAC system.
Firefighters exit the Northern State Bank in Virginia after checking out smoke conditions in the building.