Veld fire sets transformer substation alight in southern Joburg

City Power hs appealed to people not to light fires near its infrastructure after one of its transformer substations in Mondeor in the south of Johannesburg caught fire on Friday night.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena spokesperson said the fire was caused by a veld fire, with flames from nearby bushes spreading to the roof of the transformer substation.

“The veld fire caught the roof of the 11kV  transformer substation in Ashden road, Mondeor, early on Friday evening, completely destroying the infrastructure and electrical equipment.

“This affected power supply to areas including Ashden St, Cadogan St, Constantia Rd, parts of Columbine Drive, and the surrounding areas,” he said.

Technicians were attending to the outage to ensure electricity was restored to the affected areas, he added.

“Temporary solutions to restore power to the affected customers are being explored until a new mini substation can be installed.”

Veld fires have a severe effect on the operation of lines and the quality of electricity supply, Mangena said.

He added: “Recently most of the outages affecting the 88KV lines were due to the fires in the pylon servitude.

“With the help of Joburg  City Parks, we do embark on planned grass cutting operations on our servitudes to ensure we avoid the risk of fires.

“We urge communities to refrain from putting on the fires under or near electricity infrastructure.”