Fire breaks out at electricity substation in Nalgonda, Telangana

What happened

A major fire broke out at an electricity substation on Narketpalli road in Nalgonda district, Telangana, India, on a Wednesday in late May 2020, according to an ANI report published on 28 May 2020. Fire tenders from the Nalgonda fire station were sent to the site after information was received. Firefighters doused the fire within a couple of hours. No casualties were reported. The source does not give the extent of damage to the substation equipment, the length of any supply interruption, or the number of customers affected.

Contributing factors

A government official quoted by the source attributed the fire to lightning and a thunderbolt. This is a stated cause and has not been independently confirmed.

Lessons learned

1. Substations exposed to lightning need up-to-date surge protection, earthing and lightning arresters, and these should be inspected after storms.
2. Operators should check that fire detection and suppression systems at outdoor substations work and that local fire services know the site layout and isolation points.
3. Where an incident is attributed to weather, operators should still record the equipment failure path so that protection can be improved and repeat events prevented.

More lessons on weather and external hazards, detection and monitoring, from every incident on the register.

Source

aninews.in