Several areas in Johannesburg’s inner city, including parts of the CBD, Braamfontein, Fordsburg, Newtown and Parktown, remained without power on Wednesday evening after a fire in tunnels under the M1 highway on Tuesday night.

City Power spokesperson Isaac Mangena said on Wednesday that multidisciplinary teams were assessing the damage and emergency services were clearing the site.

“The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services (EMS) has made significant progress in fighting the fire in the underground tunnels along the M1 near Smit Street and the double-decker section. The team is now working on clearing the smoke in the area.

“It is suspected that the fire may have resulted from theft and vandalism of the electricity infrastructure, an incident which happened last night. The fire was put out but started again in the early hours on Wednesday morning.”

Mangena said preliminary findings indicated that a cable connecting the Braamfontein and Fordsburg substations caught fire during the suspected cable theft and vandalism.

“The City Power teams have been on site since last night and will remain until the site is handed to them by the emergency services. This is expected to happen on Thursday morning when the work to assess the extent of the damage caused by the fire to the electricity infrastructure will be made. Also, the cause will be ascertained.

“[A] City Power team earlier this afternoon recovered tools such as hacksaw, cutter, screwdrivers, normally used during vandalism and theft,” Mangena said.

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The fire led to the closure of the M1 between Empire Road and the Crown Interchange. The M1 North was reopened on Wednesday afternoon, while a section of the M1 South remained closed. Johannesburg Emergency Management Services spokesperson Robert Mulaudzi said no injuries had been reported.

Mangena said City Power would begin its restoration work after the smoke had cleared and when the temperature in the tunnels, which was around 200°C on Wednesday morning, cooled. 

“We expect to start the work mid-morning on Thursday, which will include clearing the rubble, assessing the extent of the damaged electrical infrastructure — the outcome of which will determine the repairs and restoration plans, and [estimated time of restoration].

“Meanwhile, our technicians are also working on alternatives to see if some of the areas cannot be back-fed through our Fort and Bree substations nearby.”

Mangena told Newsroom Afrika that a community of homeless people live under the bridge where the fire started, although he said he was not blaming them for the incident.  

Last year, there were several fires in the city centre, including the Marshalltown fire in August which claimed the lives of 76 people, calling into question the state of the city’s infrastructure maintenance and security. In July, an underground gas explosion killed one person and led to the closure of Lilian Ngoyi Street.

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The City of Johannesburg’s Metro Centre was closed in September after a fire broke out and the city had to find alternative working arrangements for many of its employees while it hosted council meetings at other venues.

Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda is due to deliver the State of the City Address at the Metro Centre on Thursday. (City officials did not respond to questions about whether it has reopened).

Mangena told Newsroom Afrika that City Power had restored power to the northern parts of Braamfontein, which includes the Metro Centre.

“Earlier, we also had the Metro Centre, where the State of the City Address is supposed to be delivered tomorrow, also affected but we managed to restore power to the northern parts of Braamfontein, so the State of the City Address will not be affected by the power outage.” DM