Okhla power plant fire hits South Delhi

A major fire broke out at Delhi Transco's 220 KV sub-station in Okhla on Tuesday afternoon, affecting electricity supply in some localities for up to four hours. While no casualties were reported, it took firefighters about two hours to douse the fire.

The incident was reported from the sub-station located near Crowne Plaza Hotel in Okhla around 2.30 pm. The Fire department was called at 2.45 pm. Prima facie, Fire officials said overheating in a 100 MVA transformer could have caused the fire.

Fire officials said 18 fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the flames. "We called fire tenders from Geeta Colony, Sarita Vihar, Safdarjung, Mathura Road, Nehru Place, Okhla Phase I, Okhla Phase III and Connaught Place," a senior Fire official said.

After the fire, the sub-station was isolated from the grid as a precautionary measure, a DTL official said.

"The restoration of power supply started from alternative sources within 15 minutes of the incident and power supply was normalised by 4 pm. The load of the sub-station was diverted to 220 KV sub-stations at Masjid Moth, Mehrauli and Vasant Kunj. The fire was doused by 4.35 pm," the DTL spokesperson said.

Officials said 70-foot high flames were seen at the spot and three water jets had to be used simultaneously to bring the fire under control.

A Fire official said: "The transformer has a capacity of about 40,000 litres. It probably heated up making oil heat up. As a result, the safety device on the transformer fell off. This lead to an oil leak. We had to spread chemical foam on the spilt oil. This led to a delay in controlling the fire, but it helped prevent it from spreading."

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