Transformer fire snarls 128 traffic in Peabody

Item staff reportPEABODY – It was a rough ride Monday for drivers traveling on the North Shore’s I-95 corridor after both ends of the post-holiday commutes were interrupted by large-scale accidents.An electrical transformer explosion and resulting fire halted traffic heading both north and south on Route 128 at the Route 95 split just before 5 p.m., tying up the evening commute for over an hour.The Peabody Fire Department responded to the scene and declared it a working fire, which was extinguished by 5:15 p.m. The highway was littered with live wires and a downed electrical pole as well as truck debris.State police responded to the scene and fire crews from Lynnfield were called to cover Peabody.With the fire out and the electrical wires secured, traffic was allowed to proceed in both directions just after 6 p.m. despite the downed electrical pole still blocking a portion of the highway.That evening rush-hour nightmare followed Monday morning’s tanker-truck rollover in Newburyport which also closed I-95 for hours.The 9:15 a.m. accident sent 10 people to the hospital and leaked about 9,000 gallons of gasoline onto the roadway according to state environmental officials.The State Police said an SUV collided with the tanker, owned by Aranco Oil of Concord, N.H., in the northbound lanes and the truck slid on its side and hit two other vehicles.Southbound lanes reopened about six hours later, while two northbound lanes reopened about an hour after that.A nearby Newburyport neighborhood was evacuated and public water wells shut down as a precaution.