Fire breaks out during power line repairs
An Endicott resident has questioned the competency of Eskom technicians after an incident on her property.
According to Franca Barresi, Eskom technicians recently worked on the power line at her smallholding to restore power.
Shortly after commencing with their work, Barresi heard sparking and watched in horror as the electrical sparks travelled along the overhead wires, sparked onto the dry grass and caught alight.
Barresi says because it was a very windy day, the fire spread at an alarming rate.
Despite there being six people and a fire hydrant truck working to put out the flames, it allegedly took over three hours to extinguish the fire
“All the while the Eskom technicians just looked on without lifting a hand to help,” says Barresi.
She claims three quarters of her land was completely burnt.
“Numerous trees and plants caught alight and are now destroyed, our outer fence and sprinkler system was damaged and all our bamboo, which was home to countless birds, was razed to the ground, taking along with it many of the birds’ nests and their little eggs,” she says.
Barresi is amazed that these trained technicians would work on cables without switching off the electricity.
A week prior to this incident, Eskom technicians allegedly worked on her neighbour’s line and started three separate fires, one of which burnt the reflectors and gate motor cable at Barresi’s house.
“Fortunately there was no wind on that day so the fire was put out fairly quickly each time,” she says.
She would like to know whether these technicians received adequate training.
Eskom spokesman Khulu Phasiwe says the fire started when the Eskom network repair was in progress.
He claims it was caused by the LV bare conductors whip lashing, thereby causing the sparks which set the grass alight and not due to the negligence of the field staff.
This network requires refurbishment and will be included in their future refurbishment plans.
Phasiwe says the fire took 15 minutes to extinguish and not the three hours as claimed by Barresi.
He reassures the community that their technicians are competent in their work as they were trained, assessed and found to be competent.
“The work was done in line with our procedures and this was one of those rare incidents,” he concludes.
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