Eskom power lines damaged in Wadeville recycling company fire causes widespread power outage
Eskom was forced to turn off the power supply to several Germiston suburbs after a fire at a Wadeville recycling company damaged overhead power lines.
Many Germiston suburbs have been plunged into darkness after a fire broke out at a Wadeville recycling company on Tuesday night.
The fire spread through dozens of cardboard bales stored on the Commercial Road company’s premises under the overhead Eskom power lines, and burnt and damaged the lines.
As a precaution Eskom made the decision to switch off the power, leaving Wadeville, Albemarle, Dinwiddie, Dewittsrus, Norton Small Farms, Union, Elsiehof and parts of Lambton, Klippoortjie, Roodekop and Leondale without power.
“Luckily the Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services (DEMS) caught the fire in time or there would have been more damage and the affected areas may have been without power for up to a week,” said Ward 39 councillor Alta de Beer, on scene.
“The cardboard was stored in an Eskom servitude, which is not allowed.”
Though DEMS had doused the flames, having worked through the night, by the time journalists from the GCN reached the scene there was still a risk the fire would start again.
“There is still a risk that if the wind changes the fire could start up again as the material is still smouldering and the factory on the premises could potentially be damaged,” said de Beer.
To avoid this the DEMS personnel continued to dampen down the cardboard while attempting to clear it from its current location and transport it to another location, but this was slow work as the team only had one TLB at its disposal.
“Until they move the cardboard out of the way Eskom technicians cannot get in to assess and repair the damage to the cables,” de Beer said.
Due to this setback, Eskom estimated that power would only be restored by 5pm (today, Wednesday); however, this may change.
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DEMS district manager media liaison William Ntladi told the GCN that firefighters were called to the scene at about 9.20pm on Tuesday night.
“Firefighters from the Wadeville Fire Station, assisted by crews from the Alberton, Hlahatsi and Boksburg central fire stations, all worked tirelessly through the night under extremely dangerous conditions.
“The first pump arrived on scene a few minutes after the call was received.
“Compressed paper material bales were stacked under live high-voltage electrical cables and the fire was burning vigorously, encapsulating the largest area of the company,” Ntladi said.
“The flames projected intense heat to the electrical cables, which had the potential to snap.”
Secondary to this, Ntladi explained that there was a ground-level fuel tank of unknown capacity which was engulfed by flames.
“Fuel tanks like this have the potential to create internal vapour pressure, which can lead to an explosion.
“Firefighters had to continuously cool it down with copious amounts of water,” he said.
Eskom electricians were called to isolate the power supply from the pylons.
“Prior to the isolation, defensive fire operations were put in place for exposure protection and prevention of fire spread,” said Ntladi.
The cause of the fire is still undetermined and is under investigation.
However, this is not the first time that the company has caused a power outage, according to neighbouring businessman Tony Freeman.
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“This is the fifth time they have knocked out the power,” he said.
“We have spoken to them about the issues but we don’t get any response.”
Freeman further explained that outages such as this are incredibly bad for the local businesses and their livelihoods.
The GCN contacted the company for comment and is still awaiting a response.
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