Texas Tech University sent students on an early spring break after spurts of green flames shot out from manholes on campus on Wednesday night. The source was an explosion at a substation that caused widespread outages across campus and the university's Health Sciences Center.

A series of fires and a manhole explosion led officials to shut down the campus and send students home early for spring break.

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - The fires on Texas Tech campus caused power outages across campus on Wednesday night, affecting buildings, facilities and dorms. Even students who weren’t near the explosion were affected. Jasper Shoesmith, a freshman who lives at Chitwood Hall, couldn’t believe what was happening when he came back from work.