Fire breaks out at Kwagga substation in Tshwane

What happened

On 10 October 2024 a fire broke out at Kwagga substation in Tshwane, South Africa. Early reports described an explosion and said supply was lost in Pretoria City Centre, Pretoria West, Atteridgeville, Pretoria North and Soshanguve, and that southern parts of Tshwane were also affected. The City of Tshwane said firefighters had extinguished the fire and that technicians were preparing to restore supply in phases. The city also said the fire was not a transformer explosion, contrary to an early suspicion. Officials said they would comment only after a full investigation.

Contributing factors

Not reported. The cause had not been stated when officials said they would comment after investigation. An early suspicion of a transformer explosion was later withdrawn by the city.

Lessons learned

1. Early public reports of what failed can be wrong, so restoration and public updates should follow confirmation from the site.
2. Wide outages from one substation fire need a phased switching plan once the fire is out.
3. A stated investigation date should be followed by a clear public account of what burned and what did not.

Source

sabcnews.com