The Columbia Fire Department responded about 8:30 p.m. Thursday to a fire at the Ameren substation on North Briegel Street, which resulted in a power outage for some portions of town.

Flames were showing at the substation upon firefighter arrival and Ameren was contacted. Ameren responded to the scene shortly after 9 p.m.

Columbia police said the electric substation fire caused a low power “brown out” for nearly the entire east side of Columbia.

The Columbia American Legion was evacuated shortly after the substation fire call due to the smell of smoke in the building.

At about 9:30 p.m., the entire substation was shut down by an Ameren repair crew, resulting in a larger power outage. Ameren re-routed electricity from the substation to restore power to residents a short time later.

Electric service was back to normal for all Columbia residents shortly before 10 p.m.