Parts of Centurion in the dark after another Tshwane power substation catches fire

Tshwane metro spokesperson Selby Bokaba said the fire broke out at the Kloofsig substation in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

“Emergency services responded to a raging fire at the Kloofsig substation,” he said.

Bokaba said the fire at the substation was contained.

This left some areas in Centurion in the dark due to power outages. Bokaba said the fire affected three areas: Lyttelton, Barnard Park and Kloofsig.

“It is not yet known when the power will be restored,” Bokaba said.

“City of Tshwane teams are currently on site assessing the damage. Further information will be provided once a full assessment has been conducted.”

Tshwane emergency services spokesperson Charles Mabaso said that “the substation was totally ablaze on arrival of the firefighting units”.

“Tshwane’s emergency services department received a call at approximately 01:15 informing us of ‘a transformer on fire’ near the Kloofsig train station,” Mabaso said.

“Emergency services arrived on scene to find an electrical substation on fire. They were joined by the City of Tshwane’s electricity department technicians who issued a safety certificate.

“Firefighters contained and extinguished the fire.”

Mabaso said the cause of the fire and extent of damages were still being assessed and investigated.

“No injuries were reported,” he said.

Although investigations are still underway, Mabaso said generally the cause of electrical fires may be due to overloads, vandalism and or aging infrastructure among many other things.

Ward 57 councillor David Farquharson said the metro would be meeting Wednesday morning regarding solutions to the power outage.

“It is not the whole of Lyttelton that has been affected,” he said.

“It is a bit of a nuisance to have a power outage given that it is close to Christmas. The metro is having a meeting this morning (Wednesday) to come up with solutions. We hope it will be solved soon.”

Earlier this month, Mooikloof substation in the east of Pretoria caught fire. Five months before that Wapadrand substation also caught fire in July.

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