Video: Power Line Catches Fire Near Lyman Elementary School

Middlefield firefighters responded to Lyman Elementary School around 8 p.m. Tuesday, after a neighbor called 911 to report a fire.

When crews arrived they found flames coming from a power line located about a hundred feet from the school.

According to firefighters on scene the weight of the accumulating ice caused several tree branches to fall onto the power line, leading to numerous small explosions (SEE VIDEO).

Barbara Pedro told Patch she was visiting her mother, who lives next door to the school on Way Road, when her mother noticed the flames.

"She went to do the dishes and she looked up and saw flames," Pedro said.

Deputy Chief Jay Wickham remained at the scene, but said there was little the fire department could do until power crews arrived to cut the power off.

Wickham said crews were dealing with about a half-dozen similar incidents around town.

Rob Francis, Regional School District 13 Buildings and Grounds supervisor, was also on scene to await the arrival of Connecticut Light & Power crews.

On Tuesday morning, several thousand CL&P customers remained in the dark, after the latest winter storm to hit Connecticut left powerlines, trees and homes coated with ice.

As of 5 a.m., 1,240 customers in Durham were still without power according to CL&P's website. In Middlefield, 166 customers were also experiencing outages and 14 outages were reported in Killingworth.