Another fire along the Double Decker route in Braamfontein, on Thursday morning, has plunged several areas in the dark.
City Power said its teams are currently responding to a major outage following the tripping of the 88kV circuit.
The affected cables run between the Braamfontein and Fordsburg substations, hence affected areas are Braamfontein, Parktown West, Newtown junction, De Korte North, Smith west and the surrounding areas.
City Power’s Isaac Mangena, said preliminary investigations indicate that the fire may have been caused by yet another incident of suspected cable theft and vandalism.
“We reiterate our urgent call for increased and sustained police intervention to curb this criminal scourge that is undermining service delivery and placing the lives of our teams at risk” said Mangena.
Johannesburg Emergency Services are currently on site extinguishing the fire and are expected to ventilate the tunnels to remove smoke and ensure the area is safe for entry.
Mangena said City Power technicians can only begin assessing the extent of the damage, after the tunnels are ventilated.