City Power said Tuesday evening that its teams finally entered the tunnels after the underground fire was doused, but they were unable to immediately replace the burnt cables – meaning some areas in Johannesburg would remain without electricity.
The underground fire, which started Monday morning cut off the supply lines to the Johannesburg central business district and surrounding areas.
City Power said it was only given an all-clear to enter the tunnels Tuesday afternoon by the Joburg Emergency Services Department.
“However, no work could be carried out as air quality controllers advised against it because of the intense heat underground caused by the fire that started Monday morning,” said City Power Spokesperson Isaac Mangena.
“The fire, which was put out almost 24hrs later, damaged most of the infrastructure inside the tunnels, especially the cables moving from Fordsburg Johnware substation and Central Substation.
“Our teams conducted preliminary assessments to the damage, and material has been ordered to ensure we start with the work on Wednesday morning.
“We managed to back feed most of the areas that were affected by the fire, with at least 90% of them restored by Tuesday afternoon.”
The areas that remain off include Selby, parts of Booysens, Westgate, several streets in the CBD including Ntemi Piliso, Anderson, Harrison, Main, Commissioner, Pritchard, Market, Fredericks, Grahamstown, Fox, and Anderson West.
“Unfortunately, these areas will remain off until repairs are done on the damaged infrastructure,” said Mangena.
“ETR can only be given tomorrow morning once the teams have details about the extent of the repairs needed.
“Investigation into the cause of the fire is also still ongoing, but we do not rule out anything at this stage.
“We apologise for the inconvenience caused by this to the affected customers.”
