Fire at Edesur Caballito substation leaves 60,000 without power in Buenos Aires

What happened

On a Saturday afternoon, around 3 pm, a fire broke out at a substation operated by Edesur in the Caballito neighbourhood of Buenos Aires. The flames started on the ground and first floors of electrical substation 122, a building about 25 metres wide and 40 metres deep, and later spread to the back of an adjacent building. Firefighters and emergency crews attended. The fire caused a power outage that left more than 60,000 people without electricity.

The substation, surrounding buildings and nearby houses were evacuated because of thick smoke and rising temperatures, and the security perimeter was extended to the whole block. City Police said the fire was under control by 4 pm. Edesur said it could not assess the damage until firefighters had finished, and gave no time for when service would return. The cause was not known at the time of reporting.

Contributing factors

The cause of the fire had not been determined at the time of reporting. The source says the fire spread from the substation building to the back of an adjacent building.

Lessons learned

1. Substation buildings should have fire detection and suppression suitable for electrical equipment, with fire spread into adjacent structures considered in site layout and separation.
2. Operators should prepare restoration plans and public communications in advance, since customers may be without power for an extended period while damage is assessed.
3. Evacuation and perimeter arrangements around energised electrical sites should be agreed with fire services and local police so that residents can be moved safely and quickly.

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

Source

timesnownews.com