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Smoke from a Cayuga Heights vehicle fire could be seen over Ithaca on Thursday, August 8, 2019.

A powerful thunderstorm set off a chain reaction that ended with a car fire, sending black smoke billowing into the air Thursday afternoon near Cornell University.

Cayuga Heights Fire Chief George Tamborelle said a fallen tree on Dearborn Place caused a utility pole to snap on Triphammer Road. It resulted in downed power lines in the area of 200 Triphammer Road, near Jessup Road and Cornell’s north campus.

When the Cayuga Heights Fire Department responded to the scene, they blocked the road with a fire truck to prevent traffic from entering the area while they evaluated the scene and set up additional road blocks.

Read more from the Ithaca Journal