Transformer fire at 220kV grid station in Barwaha, Madhya Pradesh

What happened

A transformer caught fire at a 220kV power grid on Maheshwar Road in Barwaha, near Sanawad, Madhya Pradesh, India, on a Saturday, as reported on 10 September 2023. Electrical staff and administrative officials attended with fire tenders and first tried to put out the fire, but did not succeed. Fire tenders were called from Sanawad, Barwaha, Maheshwar and Khargone. Police and administration then sought help from Associate and Breweries Alcohol Limited, based in Khodi, which sent a tanker carrying 400 litres of foam.

The fire was gradually brought under control. The report says efforts had been made to keep power supply uninterrupted in all areas. The report does not mention any injuries.

Contributing factors

The report says an electrical short circuit could have caused the fire. A technical team was to analyse the cause of the short circuit. The report does not describe the transformer's age, maintenance history or protection settings.

Lessons learned

1. Substation transformer fires can exceed the capacity of local fire services, so operators should agree mutual aid arrangements with nearby industrial sites that hold firefighting foam.
2. Foam stocks and delivery routes should be known in advance, because the time taken to bring foam to site determines how quickly a fire is controlled.
3. Operators should investigate short-circuit causes promptly and share the findings, so that similar transformers can be checked for the same fault.

More lessons on fire suppression and firefighting, investigation and fleet-wide checks, from every incident on the register.

Source

freepressjournal.in