Fire at Minden Hills substation cuts power to over 23,000 customers

What happened

A fire broke out around 4pm at a hydro substation on County Road 21 near Minden, Ontario, during a severe thunderstorm. The site was referred to by local fire services as the Minden Transfer Station, and Hydro One staff attended. The fire knocked out power to more than 23,000 customers across Minden Hills, Haliburton Highlands and northern sections of the City of Kawartha Lakes. Provincial police closed the road and some nearby residents were made to leave their homes because of excess smoke.

Fire crews from Minden, Dysart et al and Algonquin township battled the blaze for hours. Power was restored to most customers by just before 10pm the same day, though pockets of customers remained without power the following morning, when crews were still on scene. The cause of the fire had not been determined at the time of reporting.

Contributing factors

The fire occurred during a severe thunderstorm, but no link between the weather and the cause of the fire was reported. The cause was not determined at the time of reporting.

Lessons learned

1. A substation fire during a thunderstorm can cut power to over 23,000 customers across multiple communities, so operators should keep spare capacity and rapid switching plans ready.
2. Smoke from a substation fire can force nearby residents to leave their homes, so operators must prepare evacuation zones and public alerts in advance.
3. Rural substation fires may need mutual aid from several fire departments for hours-long responses, so pre-agreed aid arrangements should be in place.

More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Not yet known

• Cause of the fire
• Exact downtime and cost of the outage
• Equipment involved and its age

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

Source

globalnews.ca