Taken from the WEBN website:

By: Dominique Banas —

Boston’s Back Bay has been plunged into darkness tonight. It is because of a three-alarm fire in a parking garage on 40 Dalton Street. The garage is adjacent to the Hilton Back Bay hotel. Customers of both the Hilton and nearby Sheraton Hotel were evacuated. NSTAR is trying to restore power to 40,000 customers.

The fire department reported the blaze via twitter at 6:27pm this evening. According to the department the source of the blaze was a 115,000 volt NSTAR transformer. The four-story concrete building is operated by NSTAR and holds two large transformers.

As a result, almost all of Boylston Street lost power including the Prudential Center. That power outage then spread down to Chinatown and up to Kenmore Square. The MBTA Green Line could not stop at the Prudential, Arlington, Hynes, and Copley stops.

Billowing black smoke had enveloped the area but it is starting to lessen. Officials say it is not toxic. People who are being affected by the smoke are being bused downtown. One person was taken by ambulance to Boston Medical Center with minor respiratory problems. It is not sure how many people are trapped in elevators. Mayor Tom Menino is on the scene updating the media. Police are directing cars since the traffic and street lights are out.

I would have hated to be one of the people trapped in an elevator. For some reason, that’s one of my big fears. Anyway, the following day I decided to get off at Back Bay and walk around to see exactly what was going on. In the shots above you can see the damage the fire had on the building.