An overnight fire at a Cobb County EMC substation caused thousands of people to temporarily lose power.

The fire broke out around 12:30 a.m. Thursday at the fenced substation on County Services Road near Valor Drive, fire officials said.

There were no life safety issues, according to Stephen Bennett, Cobb fire spokesman.

“Due to high-voltage power lines and high-voltage equipment, Cobb fire units waited on scene to protect (against) any exposures until Cobb EMC was able to arrive on scene to survey the damage,” he told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Cobb EMC spokesman Mike Codichini said the substation experienced a “major equipment failure,” causing about 6,000 customers in the area to lose power, which was re-routed and restored by 2 a.m.

Any remaining outages Thursday morning were related to weather events, Codichini said.

“We do not yet know the cause and will be doing an investigation,” he added.

— Please return to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution for updates.

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Healthcare at College Park, a nursing home in Fulton County, GA, stands shuttered with its door chained on July 26, 2025, having closed in recent months.  Researchers at Brown University developed a list of U.S. nursing homes they predicted were at risk of closing based on 2023 data, and would be at elevated risk of closing due to the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act's cuts to Medicaid. Healthcare at College Park was on their list.  It survived past its last federal inspection in August of 2024 but has now closed down. The bill's biggest provisions will roll out over years starting Jan. 1. (Ariel Hart/AJC)

Credit: Ariel Hart