An overnight fire at the Duke Energy facility on Weedon Island has left only one of four transformers operational.

According to Duke Energy spokesman Sterling Ivey, a fire broke out just after midnight when a transformer failed and started a fire in one of the steam turbine transformers. Two other transformers were shut down for safety reasons.

The fires were brought under control in about 30 minutes. No injuries were reported and there were no evacuations at the plant.

Also, there were no power outages.

Firefighters also had a second fire to deal with after embers from the first fire were sucked into a nearby turbine air intake, catching that on fire.

Crews will remain at the scene to completely extinguish the hot spots.

Officials said the only way to access the area where the first fire broke out is to crawl across a catwalk.   
 
"It's an extensive operation due to the accessibility," said Lt. Steve Lawrence of St. Petersburg Fire Rescue. "We have to get crews inside and over to the top of the filter to fully extinguish it (the fire)."

Ivey said there is some damage at the plant, but the facility can continue to operate and generate power.

"The fire has not affected our ability to generate electricity for customers," Ivey said.