Fire knocks out power to 20,000 in Nassau

A fire at a Long Island Power Authority substation left more than 20,000 customers in Nassau County without electricity for a little more than an hour Thursday, officials said.

The fire was reported around 9:10 a.m. at the LIPA facility on Whiteside Avenue in Elmont, fire officials said.

It caused major outages in surrounding areas, LIPA reporting 8,676 without power in Elmont, 7,899 in Franklin Square and 5,851 in Floral Park.

Power authority spokeswoman Vanessa Baird-Streeter said almost 18,000 customers had been restored by 10:30 a.m.

She said emergency crews expected to have the remaining 4,500 customers restored sometime later Thursday morning.

The fire began in a circuit breaker at the substation, Baird-Streeter said. The cause was not immediately known and was under investigation.

Firefighters from Elmont responded to the scene.

Fire officials said the fire was out at 10:15 a.m.