Suspected cable theft linked to substation fire in Palhoça, Brazil

What happened

In the early hours of 4 November 2026, an explosion followed by a fire occurred at a substation of Centrais Elétricas de Santa Catarina (Celesc) in Palhoça, Santa Catarina, Brazil. Preliminary information indicates the fire began during an attempt to steal cables. The Palhoça substation, in the Aririú district beside the BR-101 highway, lost its transmission line at 02:09. About 60,000 consumer units lost power across the city centre and the Bela Vista, Aririú and Barra do Aririú districts.

Firefighters did not need to tackle the flames, which had already gone out when Celesc technicians arrived. Celesc reported a large short circuit that damaged several items of equipment. No one was injured. Maintenance crews were assessing the damage and moving customers to other substations in the region.

Contributing factors

Preliminary information points to an attempted theft of cables as the start of the fire. Celesc reported a short circuit of large proportions that damaged several items of equipment. The source does not state the full cause of the short circuit.

Lessons learned

1. Substations and cable routes can be targeted for metal theft, so operators should review perimeter security, intrusion detection and cable protection at unmanned sites.
2. Alarms that flag a sudden transmission line trip and a large fault can shorten the time before crews are on site.
3. Pre-planned switching to neighbouring substations limits the number of customers affected while full repairs are made.

More lessons on theft, arson and site security, detection and monitoring, outages, backup supply and restoration, from every incident on the register.

Source

g1.globo.com