Emergency Services teams of the City of Johannesburg, estimate it may take up to 6 hours to extinguish a fire that broke out in the early hours of Thursday morning, in Braamfontein.
City Power said as a result, it would explore alternative methods to restore electricity supply to affected suburbs, including backfeeding through nearby substations along with the use of existing interconnectors.
Isaac Mangena, Spokesperson of City Power, said “our teams are currently testing those connections to see if they are in a good condition to handle the load.”
The 88kV circuit, which supplies electricity between Braamfontein and Fordsburg Substation, was affected, leaving several suburbs in the dark, including Braamfontein, Parktown West, Newtown junction, De Korte North, Smith west and surrounds.
Mangena said preliminary investigations indicate that the fire may have been caused by yet another incident of suspected cable theft and vandalism.
Picture: Supplied