Tuesday, 6 September 2011

Black Friday in the City

The burnt out power transformer at Polaris Substation in Alton, which caught alight on Friday morning resulting in major power outages

A power transformer which caught alight at Polaris Substation in Alton in Richards Bay on Friday morning, caused major power interruptions throughout the City of uMhlathuze. The cause of the fire is unknown at this stage. uMhlathuze Fire and Rescue officials responded to the scene immediately and doused the flames. Many businesses came to a standstill at midday, while traffic was affected owing to out-of-order traffic lights. Most of the power supply to the Richards Bay CBD and suburbs was restored by 11.45am, while the affected transformer was subsequently isolated from the network. According to Acting City Electrical Engineer, Dolf Marais, changes were swiftly done on the network so that other transformers were not overloaded. ‘We will still have to determine what caused the fire and an investigation is underway. ‘We were in the process of doing full maintenance. ‘The cost estimate of the damage is yet to be determined,’ said Marais. Power supply was eventually restored to Alton by Friday afternoon.