Fire at City Power central substation causes outage

City Power reported a fire at its central substation that caused a power outage affecting Marshalltown and surrounding areas. The utility said this was the third fire at the facility in recent weeks, with the latest reported early on a Saturday morning. The cause is not yet known, and the repeated incidents form part of a wider investigation. City Power said about 98 percent of the network affected by the previous fire had been restored by Friday, and that the time to restore supply after the latest fire was not yet known. A suspect was detained after the latest fire. A man with severe burn injuries was found at Hillbrow Clinic after reportedly emerging from smoke-filled underground cable tunnels.

The cause of the latest fire has not been reported. City Power said the repeated incidents at the substation form part of a wider investigation.

1. After repeated fires at a critical substation, operators should review monitoring, access control and cable-tunnel security while the cause remains unknown.
2. Alternative supply routes should be identified in advance so some customers can be restored while repairs continue.
3. Fires involving underground cables can cause serious burn injuries, so coordination with emergency and medical services should be planned before an incident.

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