Further fire reported at City Power central substation, cutting power in Marshalltown

What happened

City Power reported another fire at its central substation early on a Saturday morning, in a report dated 26 September 2026. The fire caused a power outage affecting Marshalltown and surrounding areas. The utility said it was the third fire at the facility in recent weeks. The cause was not known, and no restoration time was given. A suspect was reported to have been detained. A person with severe burn injuries was reported to have been found at Hillbrow Clinic after emerging from smoke-filled underground cable tunnels.

Contributing factors

The cause of this fire has not been reported. City Power said the repeated fires form part of a wider investigation. Suspected theft and vandalism were discussed in reporting of an earlier fire at the same substation and have not been confirmed as the cause of this one.

Lessons learned

1. Where the cause of a substation fire is not yet known, operators should still secure access points, including underground cable routes, while investigation continues.
2. Repeated fires at one facility call for interim protective measures and a clear public statement of what remains unknown.
3. Restoration plans should include alternatives for customers supplied from a damaged substation when a return time cannot yet be given.

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

Not yet known

• Exact cause of the fire
• Duration of the power outage
• Cost of repairs and restoration

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

Source

ewn.co.za