Editor’s note: This story, originally published at 11:30 a.m. on May 2, 2025, was updated at 2:03 p.m. on May 2, 2025, to add information about the time Pepco officials estimate power will be restored. This story was updated again at 3:54 p.m. on May 2, 2025, to include a statement from a Verizon spokesperson.
Utility crews were working Friday morning and afternoon to restore power to more than 1,400 customers in the downtown Silver Spring area following an outage, Pepco spokesperson Chuck McDade told Bethesda Today Friday morning.
According to McDade, Pepco estimates power will be restored to the affected customers in the area by around 4:30 p.m.
Earlier in the morning, Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews were in the downtown Silver Spring area responding at about 6 a.m. to a report of a fire at a Verizon substation building, according to MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer. Responding crews found significant smoke due to electrical issues, but no fire in the building at 8670 Georgia Ave., Piringer said.
A Verizon spokesperson said in a statement emailed to Bethesda Today on Friday afternoon that a fire that occurred this morning “in a Pepco vault led to power issues” at the building.
“At this time, there is no impact to our services, but we are running on batteries until our power issues are fully restored,” the statement said. “Our teams are actively working on the issue and we hope to have it resolved as quickly as possible.”
Some roads were closed to traffic due to the outage and the presence of Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews who were responding to the Verizon substation.
Georgia Avenue past Cameron Street was closed and all travel lanes between Cameron Street and Colesville Road were reportedly blocked as well, the Metropolitan Area Transportation Operation Coordination (MATOC) Program said in a social post Friday morning.
By 11 a.m. MATOC advised on social media that all travel lanes had reopened on Georgia Avenue and the incident was contained to “side streets.”
Later Friday afternoon, Pepco said in a social media post that Fiddler Lane between Georgia and Ramsey avenues was closed and traffic controllers were in the area assisting.
According to McDade, underground crews were on scene in the 8600 block of Colesville Road to fix the power issue.
“Our crews right now are working safely and as quickly as possible to restore those customers,” McDade said.
Piringer told Bethesda Today on Friday morning that the power outage impacted the area around the Verizon substation building. Around 50 firefighters were at the scene with hazardous material crews assisting, Piringer said in a post on social media.
“We’re getting ready to turn it over to Pepco and Verizon,” Piringer told Bethesda Today around 9:45 a.m., noting that MCFRS crews were still at the scene.
When asked about the incident at the Verizon building, the Pepco spokesperson was not sure whether the incident was related to the ongoing power outage. Utility crews were making repairs and still investigating, the spokesperson said Friday morning.
