City Power has provided back-up power to at least 70% of the homes and businesses blacked out by an underground electrical fire in central Johannesburg this week, spokesperson Louis Pieterse said.
”We are appealing to customers in the Johannesburg CDB who have electricity to use it very economically and conservatively because it puts an extra load on the system and we don’t want it to trip,” said Pieterse.
The power is being drawn from neighbouring substations while technicians strip damaged cables and clear debris from the fire, so that they can install new cables at a cost of millions of rands.
The normal power supply is not expected to be up and running until at least the end of the week.
The cause of the fire is not yet known, but the alarm was raised on Sunday night when smoke was seen billowing out of a manhole on the corner of Loveday and Jeppe streets.
Search-and-rescue experts and firefighters cordoned off the immediate vicinity, and worked through Sunday night and Monday to extinguish an electrical fire that required specialist knowledge to control.
However, before clean-up operations and repairs could begin, they had to wait for the tunnels to cool and for the noxious gases to dissipate.
Emergency services spokesperson Percy Morokane paid tribute to the team, saying it had used the latest techniques gathered at a training course attended last week on recent developments in the control of industrial and agricultural fires.
”Everything went according to plan, and at about 3pm [on Monday] the place was declared safe and accessible,” said Morokane.
”There are no sparks left, ending a mammoth task against all the odds.” — Sapa