Fire at BESCOM substation in Kolar reported to have burnt equipment and cut district power

July 2021Published 8 Oct 2026Responsible editor: George, Chief Editor

SignificantThermal / fireProvisionalNext update 8 Oct

Estimated damage ModelledLow confidencesupply cut for •• daysShown in the record Full estimateHow? Know the real figure?

Companies named in this entry: Bangalore Electricity Supply

What happened

On a Saturday evening, around 5 p.m., fire department officials said an accidental fire broke out at a Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) 220 kVA substation near Mahalakshmi Layout in Kolar while a few employees were working there. Staff were evacuated. The source reports heavy smoke after a transformer caught fire, and power cuts for the whole Kolar district. The substation supplies Bangarapet, Mulbagalu and Nangli. No casualties were reported.

Reports claimed that electrical equipment, including a large number of transformers and other material, was burnt completely, with property losses put at Rs 7 crore. The same report also refers to a 100 watts transformer, which does not match the stated substation rating, so which equipment failed is not clear.

Contributing factors

Fire department officials described the fire as accidental. The source does not state a cause or ignition source.

Lessons learned

Evacuate people on site as soon as smoke or fire is reported at a substation.
Review how a fire starting in one transformer can involve neighbouring equipment, including separation and containment.
Plan alternative supply so that the loss of one substation does not cut power across a whole district.

More lessons on emergency response and public communication, spacing, layout and fire spread, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

thehansindia.com

Published 2026-10-08. Written from public reporting. Descriptive, not investigative. See the data accuracy disclaimer.

Follow EIR-2146

One email when this entry is updated with new reporting, an investigation finding or confirmation, and a weekly round-up of new grid infrastructure incidents in India. The register holds 847 grid infrastructure incidents, 61 of them in India. Free, no account needed, unsubscribe in one click.

By following you agree to the privacy policy.

The record behind this entry

Subscribers see the structured record behind an entry where one exists: the site, operator, manufacturer and integrator, the capacity, the root cause, the downtime, a loss estimate and every source. A subscription opens it for every entry, with benchmarks, company pages and the CSV export. See a complete record.

£39 a month, or £390 a year. Cancel at any time.

Every record, £39 a month Open the record in Lookup

Grid infrastructure incidents in India: 61 entries, with a free alert for the next one.

Browse the full register or submit an incident.