A swath of Bonney Lake was plunged into darkness today after power lines on Bonney Lake Boulevard and next to city hall failed. Sparks from the malfunction started a fire among roadside trees and ground vegetation.

Police responded to the scene within minutes, according to a source from the city hall office, and cornered off the site of the fire to prevent civilian harm. East Pierce Fire and Rescue responded shortly afterward to contain the fire.

The fire reached approximately 50 by 50 feet in size, East Pierce Battalion Chief Jay Adams said. He estimated that the fire was contained in 15 minutes.

City employees initially believed the cause of the fire was a burst transformer, though Adams said it appears  the road’s transformer was one pole down the line; therefore it was another component of the electrical grid that failed.

Employees from Puget Sound Energy arrived at the scene after the fire to investigate the cause of the problem and repair it.

Regardless of the source, the tech failure caused power outages in the immediate area, extending at least as far as Church Lake Road, according to the city office. An employee from Lakeridge Middle School called the Courier-Herald office and confirmed that the lights went out briefly.

City hall’s lights were up and running again quickly, powered from an on-site backup generator.

The City of Bonney Lake posted a video of East Pierce’s response to the fire on its Facebook feed.