Substation fire leaves thousands without power in Sydney

What happened

A fire broke out at about 3pm on a Monday at an electrical substation in Matraville, in Sydney's east, sending large plumes of thick black smoke over nearby suburbs. Around 20 people from a nearby block of units were evacuated while firecrews attended and extinguished the blaze. About 3,200 customers lost power across eastern Sydney, including in Maroubra, Chifley and Botany. Blackouts spread to a further 1,000 customers in parts of Bondi Junction and Woollahra that evening, as confirmed by Ausgrid.

Traffic lights in the area were reportedly knocked out, including on Anzac Parade. Ausgrid said the substation site had to be declared safe before power could be restored, and blackouts were expected to last until about 8pm.

Lessons learned

1. Substation fires can cut supply to thousands of customers and to dependent infrastructure such as traffic signals, so operators should map these dependencies and plan for them.
2. Restoration should wait until the site has been confirmed safe, so safety checks and isolation procedures should be built into restoration plans.
3. Nearby residents may need evacuating, so emergency plans should include clear evacuation arrangements and communication with neighbouring properties.

More lessons on outages, backup supply and restoration, worker safety and safe systems of work, emergency response and public communication, from every incident on the register.

Source

dailymail.com