Fire outbreak at Pretoria West’s decommissioned power station

This morning, the City of Tshwane issued a press release regarding the fire that occurred last night at around 21:00 in an old, decommissioned power station in Pretoria West. Upon arrival, emergency services found the switchgear room engulfed in flames.

According to the city’s deputy chief spokesperson, Charles Mabaso, fire fighters immediately conducted fire fighting operations and exposure protection of an adjacent building to the blazing power station. This commenced right after receiving a safety work permit from the city’s electricity department technician.

“The switch gear room had four switch components with oil that were burning intensely,” added Mabaso.

Due to the intense heat and an explosion from inside the building, the roof, as well as parts of other walls collapsed.

“An assortment of 10 firefighting vehicles and 26 fire fighters were deployed to the scene,” informed Mabaso.

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As a result of this swift response by the city’s fire department, the fire was contained to the switch gear room and subsequently extinguished. One fire fighter however, sustained minor injuries when a hose nozzle hit her face shield helmet. She was treated at Unitas Hospital and immediately discharged.

The switch gear room fire affected substations that provide majority of Pretoria West with electricity.

Technicians conducted assessments on the extent of the fire damages and the cause of the fire has not been determined yet.