Photo by Jim Davis. College Park volunteer firefighters respond Saturday to an electrical fire at The Mall at Prince Georges as thick, black smoke pours out of the building.

Published on: Wednesday, April 20, 2011

By Jim Davis

More than 1,000 shoppers were forced to leave The Mall at Prince Georges in Hyattsville late Saturday afternoon due to an electrical transformer fire underneath the mall.

The fire was reported just before 4:30 p.m., and when firefighters arrived on the scene, they reported smoke showing from a shipping/delivery tunnel in the rear of the shopping center.

Once firefighters entered the tunnel, they located an electrical transformer on fire. They had to maintain a safe position inside the tunnel until Pepco ensured the electrical power was cut off.

As firefighters waited for the power to be cut off, an explosion occurred inside the transformer. This caused the fire to accelerate, sending thick black smoke thoughtout the tunnel and into the mall area, said Mark Brady, public information officer for Prince George’s County Fire/EMS Department.

As firefighters were assisting shoppers from the mall, they reported several fire exit doors locked.

They also determined that the fire alarm system was not working inside the mall.

All shoppers were able to exit the mall safely, but one adult female suffered an unknown illness and had to be transported to a local hospital, Brady said.

Firefighters were able to bring the fire under control by 6 p.m.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation by fire investigators and the estimated fire loss is still being tabulated.