Substation fire near water treatment works cuts power across parts of Guernsey

What happened

A fire broke out at an electricity substation near the Juas water treatment works on Les Juqueurs Road, Vale, Guernsey, at around 11:50 BST. Guernsey Electricity said switchgear at the substation had failed, triggering the fire. Most electricity supply in the north of the island was deliberately switched off to allow the fire service to safely deal with the incident, leaving parts of Vale and St Sampson without power. Vale Primary School was among the sites affected but remained open, with parents advised to collect children at the usual time.

Guernsey Water, whose treatment works was near the affected substation, used its own generator to maintain operations. Power to private properties was subsequently restored. The precise cause of the switchgear failure had not been determined at the time of reporting, and investigations were continuing.

Contributing factors

Guernsey Electricity stated that switchgear at the substation failed, but the underlying cause of that failure had not been determined at the time of reporting.

Lessons learned

1. Switchgear failure at a substation can force deliberate power shutdowns across a wide area to let fire crews work safely.
2. Water treatment works near substations need independent generators to keep running during outages.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Precise cause of the switchgear failure
• Duration of the power outage
• Cost of repairs

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

Source

BBC News (bbc.co.uk)