Large parts of Pretoria have had their power restored by early afternoon on Saturday, following an explosion and fire at the Njala substation near the Delmas road.
Many parts of the city, from Pretoria East to the Moot were left without power, including the area from Moreleta Park to Villieria.
The metro confirmed that power has been restored to most of the affected areas and requested that residents follow normal reporting channels for any outages.
Areas restored include Highlands, Willows, CSIR, Lynnwood, Villieria, and Koedoespoort.
Power was restored to most areas by diverting the line to other stations.
“At the moment the emphasis is on testing the faulted transformer and the suspected lines connected to the station.”
“The second emphasis is on modelling if [the] load can in the interim be shifted to Kwagga [Substation]”.
According to the metro, the explosion many residents heard was caused by one of the transformers catching alight in the morning.
Many residents reported hearing two large explosions just before 08:00.
Tshwane emergency services spokesperson, Lindsay Mnguni, said that the fire was extinguished just before 11:00.
“The substation fire was reported to the City of Tshwane Emergency Services Call Centre (ECC) at about 08:45.
“Upon arrival, firefighters found that a 275 kV transformer had exploded and was on fire, issuing a large plume of black smoke.”
He said that officials from the Electricity Department had to isolate the transformer before firefighting operations commenced.
“The ECC also dispatched multiple additional firefighting resources from Silverton and Mamelodi Fire Stations to the scene as backup.
“These included a fire truck, an industrial pumper, a water tanker, and a district commander’s unit.”
He said that several other transformers in the substation remained unaffected by the fire.
“No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.”
The Volunteer Emergency Medical Response Unit (Vemru), a registered NPO and PBO that responds to medical and trauma emergencies for free, was first on the scene.
Vemru said in a statement that information available confirmed an explosion at the substation.
“Being first on scene, our trained crew could set up a safety area and do a primary investigation of the burning transformer.”
Vemru contacted City of Tshwane Firefighters to inform them of what resources were required.
“Minutes later, the first firefighters arrived on the scene, and we assisted in setting up an inline foam system to extinguish the fire with foam.”
Vemru said that City of Tshwane electrical technicians were soon on the scene, and the scene was handed over to them for investigation of the damage.
The Tshwane Metro Police Department also attended the scene.
Ward 82 councillor Siobhan Muller confirmed a trip at the Njala substation on Saturday morning, saying“We don’t have much more information at this stage.”
She said that the outage was affecting a large part of the East and parts of the Moot.
“The substation feeds to other substations, such as the Lynnwood substation, which feeds most of ward 82.”
ALSO READ: No burning in Tshwane until the end of September, says Fire dept
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