No repair or restoration work has begun, for the second day now, after a fire broke out at the Bree Substation, on Friday, 06 February 2026.
City Power’s Isaac Mangena, said the building has not received clearance from emergency services as yet (EMS), to allow the area to stabilize, for personnel to enter.
This is despite the evidence of structural engineers and inspectors from the Department of Labour, who arrived on site to assess the structural condition of the facility and surrounding buildings.
“The area remains extremely hazardous due to intense residual heat, boiling transformer oil, ongoing smoke emissions, and the presence of carbon fumes within the facility” said Mangena.
As a precautionary safety measure, three floors of the residential building located above the substation were evacuated on Friday.
But until clearance is granted, the formal investigation into the cause of the fire cannot take off, neither can assessments into the damage to infrastructure and equipment.
Areas with no electricity, are Newtown, parts of Parktown, Braamfontein, Bree West, Bank City, Ferreirasdorp, parts of the Johannesburg CBD, and Marshalltown.
Affected streets and buildings are Diagonal Street, Harrison Street, Simmonds Street, Ntemi Piliso Street, Rahima Moosa Street, the New Stock Exchange via John Ware, Bank City No. 1 and 2, President Street, the JCI Building, Pritchard Street West, Kerk Street Central, Jeppe Street West, Bree Street West, and surrounding areas.
Picture: Supplied