Fire at Hornsby substation cuts power to 26,000 Sydney properties

What happened

A fire broke out in the cable basement of the Hornsby power substation on Sydney's upper north shore just before midday on 13 February 2019, according to energy distributor Ausgrid. Smoke was reported coming out of the substation. About 26,000 properties across the upper north shore and Hills District lost power, including suburbs such as Hornsby, Waitara, Asquith, Hornsby Heights, Wahroonga, Galston, Thornleigh, Mount Colah and Normanhurst. Shops, restaurants and cafes closed during the lunchtime blackout, a pharmacy lost vaccines and antibiotics when its fridge stopped working, and traffic lights failed, so police were required to direct traffic. NSW Fire and Rescue attended. Ausgrid said crews were assessing the damage before restoring supply safely.

Contributing factors

The source does not report the cause of the fire or the equipment involved beyond the cable basement.

Lessons learned

1. Operators of substations should assess how a loss of supply affects dependent services such as cold-chain storage for medicines and traffic signals, and plan backup power or public communication accordingly.
2. Fire in cable basements and cable routes can disconnect large numbers of customers, so fire detection, segregation and fire-stopping of cable spaces should be reviewed.
3. Early engagement with the fire service and a clear isolation plan are needed so that damaged equipment is made safe before supply is restored.

More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, detection and monitoring, fire suppression and firefighting, from every incident on the register.

Source

nine.com.au