Residents of Parkview and Forest Town, are yet again left in the dark after a fire damages a transformer substation.
The transformer caught fire on the morning of February 27, partially burning the breaks thus plunging the suburbs into darkness.
City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said their team was informed that a transformer situated in Parkview was on fire.
“When the City Power team arrived on site, they found that the blaze was contained by the fire department. Despite efforts, the damage to the infrastructure seems to be extensive and will require a complete overhaul of the transformer to be replaced with a mini-substation and a ring main unit.”
Mangena added the incident caused power supply interruption for customers in Parkview and Emmarentia. The team, however, managed to partially restore the power supply.
“Repairs will get underway as soon as all required materials have been delivered on-site. From the team’s estimation, repairs could take up to 48 hours to complete.”
The spokesperson noted that it was unclear at this stage what the cause of the fire was, but an investigation was underway to make that determination.
While the team was attending to the incident in Parkview, it was notified of another fire in Forest Town.
Mangena said the fire began on Sherwood Road. “Upon closer inspection, the team discovered that only breakers were damaged by the flames and only a few streets were affected by the impact of the fire. Repairs are currently underway with the estimated restoration set at 18:00, provided all goes as planned.”
City Power sincerely apologised for the inconvenience caused to customers.
Customers are advised to unplug their appliances during the period of the outage. This is to prevent a surge which may cause a further trip when supply is restored.
Ward 87 councillor, Bridget Steer said the Westcliff line tripped from Parkhurst’s substation after load shedding on February 26.
“This affected Westcliff, Forest Town, Parkview, Greenside East and Greenside. During the process of restoring power the following morning the Westmeath transformer ‘flashed’ due to a suspected overload or inrush. It is suspected that the flash caught the oil in the transformer, which resulted in an explosion and fire.”
Steer added that the mini-substation was on site and the burnt equipment was removed.
Cables were being replaced and the plinth for the mini-substation was being positioned. The ring main unit which is coming from another supplier will be delivered this afternoon.
Related Article: Parkview transformer catches fire and Forrest Town transformer partially damaged
