Fire at Hermes Road substation in Saltford, Bath causes mass outage

What happened

A fire broke out at Hermes Road substation, an electricity substation in a residential area of Saltford, Bath, during the morning. Emergency services attended and used high pressure hose reels and covering jets to extinguish the blaze. Nearby residents were evacuated as a precaution and asked to keep windows and doors closed while crews worked. Up to 700 properties lost power as a result of the incident. Firefighters remained on site after the fire was extinguished to cool equipment and check for hotspots.

National Grid, which operates and owns the substation, attended to take over management of the site and begin restoring electricity supplies. No injuries were reported and surrounding properties were checked with no damage found. The cause of the fire was believed to be accidental, though this had not been formally confirmed at the time of reporting.

Contributing factors

Not reported beyond an initial assessment that the fire was accidental in nature.

Lessons learned

1. A fire in a residential substation can cut supply to hundreds of properties, so operators should map load paths and install fast acting isolation switches.
2. Smoke from electrical fires spreads to nearby homes, so pre planned evacuation zones and advice on closing windows reduce exposure.
3. After an electrical fire, cooling and hotspot checks must finish before handover, so fire crews and network staff need joint procedures.

More lessons on electrical protection and isolation, spacing, layout and fire spread, worker safety and safe systems of work, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Exact cause of the fire
• Substation equipment age and model
• Duration of the power outage
• Cost of repairs and restoration

This entry is updated when these are reported. Get an alert for the next one like it.

Source

bathecho.co.uk