September 16, 2005
Transformer Explosion
There was a big boom.
Then the lights flickered.
A few seconds later, they flickered again.
A bunch of machines rebooted.
I thought that someone had dropped a bomb near by (I’m right next to an semi-retired Air Force Base).
But now coworkers are telling me that a transformer exploded somewhere on La Avenida.
I remember one winter, I was working at 75 Wall St on the 26th floor when a transformer exploded across the street. Same thing – giang bang, some lights flickering. Something like 15 fire trucks instantly showed up and clobbered the street.
One Comment to “Transformer Explosion”
September 16th, 2005 at 9:35 pm
I remember the same thing happening just about a month after September 11. Before I moved to San Jose, I lived a mile or so from the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and the smoke that day covered my neighborhood. My neighbors and I stood outside and watched it billow into the sky.
I pretty much instantly became skittish at loud noises; so when there was an enormous explosion coming from the direction of the Pentagon one night and the lights all went out… well, my mind immediately filled with thoughts of terrorism.
When in about 10 minutes a utility truck arrived on my street, I realized that it had been a transformer explosion; the realization that post-traumatic stress disorder is real was sobering.
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