Wisconsin Center evacuated after fire in underground cable under 6th Street downtown

MILWAUKEE -- The Wisconsin Center in downtown Milwaukee was evacuated Tuesday afternoon, August 2nd due to a fire in an underground cable under 6th Street and subsequent power outage. 700 people were inside the Wisconsin Center at the time.

Officials with the Milwaukee Fire Department said there was a build up of smoke and pressure, which blew off two manhole covers.

Fire underground near Wisconsin Center

No one was hurt.

Fire underground near Wisconsin Center

We Energies officials cut power to the line -- and the fire was put out.

It led to power outages downtown from 4th to 7th and from State to Wisconsin.

Traffic signals were also out near 6th and Wells.

"We came down here and determined one of our cables had a fire on it. We de-energized the line feeding the damaged line so the fire would go out. That knocked out the power to other areas downtown. Since that time, we got underground and determined the extent of the damage and rerouted power -- so hopefully we will get that back shortly for the folks downtown," Brian Manthey with We Energies said.

Fire underground near Wisconsin Center

We Energies officials said the evacuation of the Wisconsin Center was a result of the power outage -- not due to concerns over the fire spreading.

Officials with the Department of Public Works placed four-way stop signs at 6th and Wells and other intersections nearby within a two-block radius.

Fire underground near Wisconsin Center

Manthey confirmed shortly before 5:00 p.m. that the power outage was over. Out of the 300 customers affected by the initial outage, 220 had power restored around 3:00 p.m. The rest were fully restored by 3:45 p.m.

There was no further information about what caused the fire.