On Saturday afternoon in the middle of a heat wave in Drakenstein residents were left without electricity after a transformer at the Palmiet substation in Paarl East caught alight.
Cables on the low voltage side of one of three transformers at Palmiet Substation were destroyed by the fire which left large parts of Paarl, including Paarl East and North as well as the Central Business District without electricity for about three hours.
“It is very difficult to pinpoint the cause of the fire. At the moment Drakenstein Municipality is still investigating the cause. At this point and time we know that there was a huge fault current, possibly caused by a cable fault,” said Marius Wüst, Executive Director: Engineering Services at the Municipality.
Residents who were in the area said they could hear the sparks and saw blue flames coming from the substation.
After the Drakenstein fire departement who reacted swiftly, extinguishing the fire and clearing the scene for the Municipality’s electro-technical team to get to work, power was restored at around 19:00.
According to Wüst, tests on the transformer and the affected equipment are still being done to determine the extend and cost of the damage.. In 2018 a short circuit at the Parys substation resulted in a fire at the substation which left a part of Paarl without electricity for a few days.
