Fire destroys equipment at Mulago power substation in Kampala

A fire broke out at the Uganda Electricity Transmission Company's Mulago substation on Mawanda Road in Kampala, Uganda, reported as a Sunday morning fire in early November 2013. Photographs showed a destroyed current limiting reactor. The substation supplied electricity to Kampala's central business district, upscale residential areas, parts of Entebbe and Bombo and some areas of western Uganda, and extended outages were expected. Eyewitnesses said the fire started at around 9am and lasted about 20 minutes before the fire brigade arrived; a security guard on site said police arrived roughly 45 minutes after the facilities had burnt down. The power distributor Umeme said the impact was large because the substation served a big area and that it would try to reconnect some areas as quickly as possible, and unnamed sources said power could be re-routed from other Kampala substations. Umeme and the police were still establishing the cause and the extent of the damage at the time of reporting, and the outage duration was not confirmed.

A district manager for the power distributor suggested the fire could have resulted from electricity wire interruptions, though no official cause had been established at the time of reporting.

1. Substations serving large urban loads should have documented, tested rerouting plans so supply can be restored from neighbouring stations while repairs proceed.
2. Delays in emergency response can worsen damage, so site alarm escalation and agreed attendance arrangements with fire and police services should be checked in advance.
3. Where faults on high-voltage connections are suspected, routine inspection and maintenance of reactors, terminations and cabling reduces the risk of a single station loss cascading into a wide outage.

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