One dead in shocking substation fire, Newclare

A man died after being electrocuted during a substation fire in Newclare on January 11. The Johannesburg Emergency Management Service’s (EMS) spokesperson, Robert Mulaudzi said that the motive appeared to be cable theft.

However, according to an eyewitness who was at the scene, there were three men living in the substation near the flats in Davy Road. The men, who were believed to be vagrants, allegedly had a mattress and managed to connect electrical cables in order for them to have electricity in the substation building.

The incident took place at about 6am and forensic personnel and the council security officers were on the scene early that morning, along with City Power technicians. One of the men were electrocuted and the other was rushed to hospital to receive treatment for the burns he sustained during the fire. According to a source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the third man managed to flee the scene before suffering any burns.

“You could see that the deceased was not laying by the building, it looked like he ran and then eventually fell and died on the spot we found him at. He was very burnt, and his body was white like ash. It was a horrible death,” said the eyewitness.

The second man who was rushed to the hospital died hours later and sustained serious burns. Ward councillor Susan Stewart said that the electricity could not be restored immediately because a case had to be opened at the Sophiatown Police Station first.

“After the process was followed, work could commence. It was a difficult technical problem to resolve, but I believe that City Power did their best to resolve the problem,” she said.

The building which housed the transformers was broken down by City Power before the electricity supply could be restored to the Newclare area. By January 15, the new installation of the new transformers was completed.

The resident who was willing to comment, said that the electricity was restored on the same afternoon following the incident and was cut off on Monday because the new transformers had to be installed, however, he expressed his appreciation of City Power’s handling of the situation.