Fire at Seodaejeon substation in Daejeon damages part of transformer

What happened

A fire broke out at about 18:09 local time on 13 October 2026 at a power transformer within the Seodaejeon substation in Byeondong, Seo-gu, Daejeon. The substation is operated by Korea Electric Power Corporation. Part of the transformer was burned. Daejeon Fire Headquarters deployed 90 personnel, including 84 firefighters, and 28 pieces of equipment. The fire was fully extinguished at about 19:16, roughly one hour and seven minutes after it began. Fire authorities estimated property damage at 1.13 million won. No injuries were reported, and no power outage was reported to fire authorities. Police and fire authorities are investigating the exact cause and how the damage occurred.

Contributing factors

The cause of the fire has not been established. Police and fire authorities are investigating the exact cause and the course of the damage.

Lessons learned

1. Transformers at substations should have fire detection, alarms and suppression checked on a regular schedule, so faults are caught early.
2. Operators should pre-plan with local fire services, including site access, isolation points and water supply, so response times and firefighting are effective.
3. After a substation fire, operators should quickly confirm whether any customers lost supply and record damage and downtime, so the impact can be assessed accurately.

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

Source

newspim.com