A Back Bay incendiary blacked out more than 15 blocks of buildings Tuesday night.
Large patches of Boston went dark as firefighters fought to subdue a three-alarm fire in an NStar-operated building near the Back Bay Hilton.
The fire, which sent smoke billowing through the neighborhood beginning at 6:27 p.m., led to a power outage that extended throughout the area and to other regions such as Kenmore Square and Chinatown.
About 20,000 NStar customers lost power because of the blaze.
Fire officials were unsure of how the fire started, but said it was burning in a 115,000-volt transformer, one of the Scotia Street building’s two large electrical transformers.
“The police thought that the smoke was toxic and they closed off just blocks upon blocks,” said Berklee College of Music sophomore Patrick O’Brien.
He said officials initially tried to evacuate the area surrounding the burning building at about 7 p.m.
It continued to sound “like a warzone a little bit because helicopters [were] flying everywhere,” O’Brien said.
He said his power had been out since about 7:45 p.m., and he and his roommates, who live on Westland Avenue about a block away from the fire, noticed for once, “you can see the stars.”
The smoke was not toxic, but “it is never good to inhale any kind of smoke,” according to the Boston Fire Department’s official Twitter, which also cautioned pedestrians to stay away from the area.
Several Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority stations were closed down, including the Arlington, Prudential and Hynes Convention Center stops.
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