By: Natasha Archary
City Power and Johannesburg Emergency Services battled an underground fire in the city on Monday afternoon.
The fire was detected when City Power teams were responding to an outage at the Fordsburg substation.
An outage happened around 8am after a fire in our underground tunnels at Ntemi Piliso street tripped two main lines to Central & Selby Substation.
Firefighters worked tirelessly to bring the underground fire under control and struggled to pinpoint the source of the blaze. Eventually, the fire was put out with endless fumes of black smoke billowing out from the manholes in the CBD.
Teams used suction equipment to release the smoke from the tunnels under the city.
@CityofJoburgEMS teams using equipment to suck out smoke from the underground tunnels gutted by fire. The teams will remain on site until the fire has been brought under control.
— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) March 28, 2022
Our technicians are however unable to assess the impact until all-clear has been given by EMS. pic.twitter.com/fZf3QGqDB7
City Power officials were unable to go down the tunnels to assess the situation because the tunnels were still not safe. Teams will be on scene on Tuesday to assess the damage.
MMC for Environmental Infrastructure Service Department, and Joburg City Councillor Michael Sun said they will update residents on the situation.
“For now, we have not been asked by EMS to evacuate residents and business owners from the area. But we are monitoring the situation, as soon as there is any warning that the area is unsafe, the community will be informed.”
MMC Michael Sun
MMC @MichaelSun168 is satisfied with the work done by @CityofJoburgEMS so far in assisting to put out the fire at our underground tunnels near Ntemi Piliso street.
— @CityPowerJhb (@CityPowerJhb) March 28, 2022
WATCH: pic.twitter.com/N9qFZuoygS



