Fire at Hydro One substation on Wellington Road 18 near Aboyne cuts power to 1,559 customers

What happened

The Fergus fire station attended a fire at a Hydro One substation on Wellington Road 18, near the Wellington County OPP station at Aboyne, Ontario, after a call at 3.15am on 11 September 2020. Crews were on scene by 3.25am. The fire was contained within the substation. Firefighters notified Hydro One and waited until the supply was isolated before extinguishing it. Hydro One arrived at 4.30am and the fire was out by about 5.15am.

Seventeen firefighters attended. There were no injuries, and the cause was not known. Many areas of Fergus, Elora and Salem served by Hydro One were initially without power. Hydro One backfed many customers. Its website recorded 1,559 customers originally without power. The outage was still listed shortly after 10am, with restoration expected by 10.15am.

Contributing factors

The cause was not known at the time of the report. No equipment fault, weather or other factor was stated.

Lessons learned

1. Firefighters cannot safely use water on a live substation, so isolation arrangements with the network operator need to work at night and without delay.
2. A fire contained inside one substation can still leave a wide area off supply; backfeeding and switching plans limit how long customers stay without power.
3. Where the cause is not yet known, keep the site attended and investigate before the equipment is returned to service.

Source

wellingtonadvertiser.com