City Power has appealed to people not to light fires near the electricity infrastructure. This comes after customers near the Heriotdale substation were affected by a power outage, which was caused by a fire that started around midday.

Technicians responded to an outage from Heriotdale substation and found that the transmission lines caused the trip due to the billowing smoke caused by the huge fire under the servitude. Affected customers included large power users such as PPC Cement and Scaw Metals.

Fire fighters were called to assist in putting out the fire under the power lines and electricity was restored after five hours.

City Power recently had some outages affecting the 88KV and 11KV lines due to fires on the pylon servitudes. The hotspots of veld fires include Nasrec, Heriotdale, Ennerdale, and Pennyville. Communities are urged to refrain from putting on fires under or near electricity infrastructure, which is illegal and a crime if one is found.

Grass bushes and trees under the servitudes are regularly cut with the help of Joburg City Parks to ensure we avoid the risk of fires and trees blown into the lines by the wind.

Residents should consult the Joburg Emergency Services or City Parks and Zoo should they wish to clear the shrubs, trees or grass under or around the transmission lines.