Photo by ZigZagLens via LAist Feautred Photos on Flickr

A malfunctioning transformer caused a small grass fire and some power outages at LAX late this morning. The outage is affecting three international flights on the remote West end of the airport as DWP workers move to restore power to the area. The planes, each are carrying over 200 passengers to Tokyo, Santiago and Shanghai, cannot leave their gates because the attached pedestrian walkways need electricity to detach.

The blown transformer near the Continental Airlines leasehold on the 7300 block of World Way West was caused by a power surge that started at another LAX facility across the street. It caused a small grass fire ignited prompting the LA Fire Department to quickly respond, knocking down the fire at 11:05 a.m., eight minutes after the was first reported.