Portions of Alameda and Oakland were without power Sunday, Feb. 19, after a fire broke out at the PG&E substation at in the area of 5000 Coliseum Way. More than 54,000 residents in Oakland and Alameda were reported to have lost power on Sunday.

The power outage did not just affect residents. Numerous businesses including the Ross and Trader Joe’s at South Shore Center and the Alameda Theatre & Cineplex reported they had to temporarily close operations due to a lack of electricity.

The Oakland International Airport was also affected by the power outage. Certain check-in procedures were inoperable during the outage, according to reports. The outage also affected BART and AC Transit services.

Traffic was also impacted during the power outage. Both the High Street and Fruitvale bridges were stuck in the up position due to the power outage making them impassible. There were large wait times for motorists to get off the island at the two bridge locations. The Alameda County Public Works Agency operates and maintains the six drawbridges over the Oakland-Alameda Estuary including the Fruitvale and High Street bridges. Alameda Mayor Marilyn Ezzy Ashcraft told KGO7 News that she was not sure why the power outage caused the bridges to move to the up position, but she is asking the county to investigate.

Alameda Municipal Power first reported the power outages around 1 p.m. — even though AMP is an independent municipal power company, it uses PG&E transmission lines. Power was restored for much of Alameda around 5 p.m.

The Oakland Fire Department said the official cause of the substation fire is under investigation. They said crews have to examine the damaged transformer to figure out how the fire started.