Central substation catches fire again in Johannesburg

What happened

The Central Substation in Johannesburg caught fire in the early hours of 26 September 2026. City Power said this was the third fire at the site within a short period, and that it occurred while restoration after a previous fire earlier in the month was nearing completion. City Power operators and Johannesburg Emergency Management Services were on site. Smoke prevented teams from entering the affected sections until it subsided and the site was declared safe. The incident caused another outage for customers in Marshalltown and possibly surrounding areas. City Power said the cause of this fire, and the extent of the damage, had not been established.

Contributing factors

The cause of the 26 September fire has not been reported. City Power said preliminary indications after an earlier fire at the same substation had suggested a possible link to theft and vandalism in underground cable tunnels, but that cause remained subject to formal investigation. The operator said the sequence of incidents would be investigated.

Lessons learned

1. Repeated fires at the same substation while repairs are still under way should trigger a fresh technical and security review before restoration is treated as complete.
2. Entry for damage assessment should wait until emergency services confirm that smoke and other hazards have cleared.
3. Where theft or vandalism is under investigation, operators can ask the public to report suspicious activity around substations, cable tunnels and manholes without confronting anyone.

Source

thebulrushes.com