A fire broke out yesterday afternoon at the rear of the Taco Bell building, 41 S. Court St., while American Electric Power employees were working on the electricity at the site.
"There was a (power company) work crew on the scene doing service work and there was and accident," Suzanne Priore, the power company's spokesperson said.
The accident occurred at about 1:45 p.m. Witnesses described seeing sparks and flashes, and hearing a loud noise.
One of the power company's employees, area servicer Hubert Call, was injured. The Southeast Ohio Emergency Medical Service transported Call to O'Bleness Memorial Hospital, where he was treated and sent to Ohio State University Medical Center for precautionary measures.
Karen Robinson, manager of the emergency department at O'Bleness, said Call was listed in stable condition as of late yesterday afternoon.
Aaron Gilbert, a junior in pre-law economics, was at the rear of the alley when the injured power company worker was leaving the scene.
Gilbert said it appeared that Call's face was burned, and that it was apparent where his hat had been because some of his hair was burned off.
"He was dazed but coherent," Gilbert said.
Jodie Flynn, manager on duty at Taco Bell at the time of the fire, said electricians were working in the rear of the building when the restaurant's fire alarm went off. Diners and all staff evacuated the building safely.
Jackie Lang, a junior sports-industry major, was in her apartment behind Taco Bell when the lights started to flicker and then went out.
Lang said she exited her apartment to see what was happening and found the area being evacuated.
David Beddell, a senior electrical-engineering major, was also present when the accident occurred.
"I saw some flashes and (heard) some booms," he said.
By about 2 p.m., Athens Fire Department officials had secured the area. All affected power was turned off.
The power outage affected Taco Bell and other surrounding businesses.
Karen Whitlatch, manager of The Other Place, 43 S. Court St., said Thursdays are usually busy, but not having power slowed business down.
"People can't try anything on because the fitting rooms are black," she said. "That's probably more of a deterrent than anything else."
At Perks, 49 S. Court St., employees were looking at the possibility of keeping items requiring refrigeration, such as milk and creamer, at The Court Street Diner, 18 N. Court St. Both restaurants are operated by the same owner.
"All that we are able to serve is what coffee we've brewed and what's in the display case," said Jenny Schreck, a Perks employee.=
Employees at Goodfella's Pizza, 6 W. Union St., also spoke about the difficulty of doing business without power.
"We don't have drinks, only some pizza left, and it took us 25 minutes to cook it because the oven was starting to get colder," said employee Nikki Gilchrist.
Power was restored last night.
Fire Chief Robert Troxel said the incident was isolated to the exterior of the building, where the work was being done.
There was no apparent damage to any of the apartments, he said.
Natalie Morales and Erica Bush contributed to this article.
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Mae Kowalke
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Athens Fire Fighters exit Taco Bell into the adjoining alley yesterday after an electrical fire erupted in the kitchen of the restaurant. Witnesses described seeing sparks and flashes, and hearing loud noises at the time of the fire.
