Two-Car Crash Causes Transformer Fire on Bergen Blvd

Fort Lee police and fire officials say a two-car accident Tuesday on Route 1 and 9 South in Fort Lee near the exit to Bergen Blvd. sent one car careening into a telephone pole, bringing down two transformers and causing a ground fire, closing the highway and at least temporarily affecting traffic coming off the George Washington Bridge into New Jersey.

Police say the accident, which remains under investigation, occurred just before noon Tuesday, and that there were “no life-threatening injuries.” However more than an hour after the accident, the southbound portion of the highway remained closed as PSE&G made repairs to the transformer and pole, while traffic was moving again in the northbound lanes.

Battalion Chief Mark Sulcov of the Fort Lee Fire Department said firefighters arrived on scene to find one of the cars involved in the accident crashed into the telephone pole.

“[The crash] split the pole in half,” Sulcov said. “The transformers and the high-tension lines came down to the ground. The car was not involved in the fire, but the ground was from the oil from the transformer and arcing wires.”

He said traffic was stopped on the highway, as PSE&G arrived on scene and cut the wires, allowing the Fort Lee firefighters to go to work.

“Everything was shut down because the wires were still live and energized, bouncing around on the ground so we could not allow any traffic to drive past it,” Sulcov said. “And then once the power company came, they cut the wires, gave us the okay, we put the minor fire out on the ground, and that was it.”

The Borough of Fort Lee issued an alert via its Nixle system notifying residents of the complete (southbound) and partial (northbound) road closures.