Fire breaks out at electrical substation at Whitby High School

What happened

A fire broke out in a brick and concrete electrical substation, approximately three metres by three metres, on the site of The Whitby High School on Sycamore Drive, Ellesmere Port, on Thursday 25 July 2019. Two crews from Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service attended at about 2.55pm following reports of a blaze. Nobody was hurt. Firefighters set up a covering jet and carried out a 360-degree inspection of the substation.

After liaising with Scottish Power representatives, two firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used dry powder extinguishers to contain the fire. The fire was extinguished and the electricity supply to the substation was isolated. Crews inspected the facility and monitored its temperature with a thermal imaging camera. At 5pm, Scottish Power workers were digging at the site to isolate the low voltage supply, which was expected to take about three hours, and one fire engine remained in attendance.

Lessons learned

1. Fire services and network operators should agree a point of contact in advance so that supply to a substation can be isolated quickly during an incident.
2. Where a substation sits on a school or other occupied site, responders should keep the surrounding area clear and confirm that nobody is at risk during extinguishing work.
3. Thermal imaging checks after a fire is extinguished help confirm that equipment has cooled and is safe before the site is handed back or re-energised.

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

Source

chesterstandard.co.uk