Burning Wire Prompted Closure of Rt. 206 on Sunday [VIDEO]

A section of Route 206 (Lawrence Road) was closed to traffic for about 2½ hours Sunday afternoon (July 29) after an overhead wire carrying 13,000 volts of electricity caught fire.

Volunteer firefighters from Lawrence Road Fire Co. were dispatched to the fire along the southbound side of Route 206, opposite Smithfield Avenue, at 12:36 p.m.

Concerned about the electrocution danger should the primary electrical wire burn through and drop to the ground, firefighters closed Route 206 between Brearley Avenue and Fernwood Lane and detoured both vehicular and pedestrian traffic away from the area.

Emergency officials said the wire was damaged by a large tree limb that snapped during the fierce thunderstorm that swept through the township Saturday evening.

The fire eventually burned itself out and the wire was attended to by a representative of PSE&G, officials said.

While traffic was disrupted on Route 206 Sunday afternoon, motorists traveling along Brunswick Pike also encountered problems thanks to a brief power outage that darkened traffic lights between the Brunswick Circle and Darrah Lane.

Police officers were assigned to control the intersections until power was restored to the traffic lights, officials said.

The storm brought heavy rain and strong winds to the township beginning about 9:10 p.m. Saturday.

In addition to bringing down the tree limb at Route 206 and Smithfield Avenue, the storm caused a tree to topple over, pulling electrical wires down with it, near the intersection of Eldridge Avenue and Rolfe Avenue.

Some residents of the township’s Eldridge Park neighborhood said they lost power during the storm and did not have electrical service restored until after 7 a.m. Sunday.

An electrical transformer also caught fire behind an address in the 100 block of Franklin Corner Road during Saturday’s storm, officials said.

Volunteers from all three township fire companies responded to calls during the storm to assist township police officers.