A fire that broke out at a Puget Sound Energy electrical substation in Redmond on Thursday caused 25,000 power outages across the region, including Kirkland.

PSE spokesperson Allison Stanford said the company was notified that a fire broke out at approximately 12:30 p.m. in the 9800 block of Willows Road at the Sammamish Substation in Redmond. The fire caused power outages for 25,000 customers across the Eastside.

“PSE crews have redirected that power and restored 16,000 customers within an hour of the incident,” she said, noting that 9,000 customers were still without power as of 2:30 Thursday afternoon. “PSE crews are still working to restore power to the remaining customers.”

Officials said there are no hazardous materials concerns, no injuries and nothing criminal at this point.

Redmond fire officials said mineral oil, which is a non-toxic substance used as a coolant and conductor in the substation transformer, caught fire and fueled the flames. The Redmond Fire Department responded to the scene, but could not use water to douse the flames because it was mineral oil that caught on fire. Water would only increase the flames.

A Port of Seattle foam truck, which extinguishes fires using foam similar to a fire extinguisher, was brought in and doused the flames.

Officials are waiting for the transformer to cool to begin further investigation.

Several readers called and e-mailed to report they saw flames shooting several feet high and a column of black smoke could be seen for several miles.

Shortly after the fire broke out, employees at the Willow Creek Corporate Center were standing outside in the parking lot, looking up at the huge black plume.

“The power went out quickly and then it came back on and then went out immediately,” said Trevor Johnson, an employee at Microsoft Corp., which was evacuated following the power outage.

Kim Haines, also a Microsoft employee, said she was working on deadline on a big project when the power went out.

“So this is really impacting our work day,” she added.

Meanwhile, Andrew Hassard, vice president of Service Communications, Inc., was walking back to his office alongside of Willows Road, which was backed up for miles in both directions. He said his office shut down the servers and he headed over to the substation to check out the scene.

“I wandered down there and told everyone they can go ahead and go home,” said Hassard after he saw the fire and took a photo of it using his iPhone from 100 feet away. “We’re going to be out of power for quite some time.”

Power has also been down at several Lake Washington School District schools, including Lakeview Elementary, International Community School and BEST in Kirkland and Ben Rush Elementary in Redmond, according to Kathryn Reith, the district communications director.

She also said phones were down for a while at Rose Hill Junior in Redmond and Mark Twain Elementary in Kirkland.

The LWSD Resource Center, located in the Redmond Town Center, has been on emergency power, according to Reith. Busses were delayed in getting out of the bus barn for the afternoon run as the fire was very near the LWSD support services offices, which is located at 15212 NE 95th St., just off of Willows Road.

“Redmond PD was wonderful, they helped us in creating a route to get busses out,” Reith said. “Busses may be delayed because of the traffic issues in the area, so we are letting parents know right now.”

Police are asking people to avoid that area and take alternate routes.

The Sammamish substation is a larger facility that serves smaller station in the area, according to the PSE official. The PSE phone number to report power outages is 1-888-225-5773.

Reporter Matt Phelps contributed to this report.