Power supply to parts of Benin city, Edo State, and environ is threatened, following the destruction of a 150MVA transformer, by fire that gutted it.
The transformer which belongs to the Transmission Company of Nigeria(TCN), is located at the 330/132/33KVA substation along Sapele road Benin.
It was gathered that the fire started at about 8am, but was finally put out at about 11: 30 am by a combined effort of four fire fighting vehicles.
A source within th Transmission company who did not want to be named, said the cause of the fire was not yet known.
A resident in the area, David Osasu, however told our correspondent that they heard an explosion inside the premises of the company at about 8am, which was followed by thick smoke.
“The transformer exploded at about 8am. It took over an hour before help came from the fire service as TCN doesn’t have a fire service,” Osasu said.
He lamented that TCN substation in Edo that controls more than two states does not have its own fire fighting equipment for use in case of fire outbreak.
Osasu disclosed that help finally came much later when fire fighters from Nigerian Army, Airforce, University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Delta State Fire Service and that of the Niger Delta Power Holding company Limited ( NDPH), came to put out the fire after about three and half hours after the fire started.
When journalists visited the scene of the incident, five fire fighting vehicles were seen moving out of the premises.
The were however denied access into the premises as the gate was locked and manned by rough-looking security personnel.
As at the time of filling this report, effort to reach the management of TCN was not successful, as they were said to be very busy.
Meanwhile, the Management of BEDC Electricity Plc. (BEDC), has appealed to its customers in Edo and parts of Delta and Ondo States to bear with them over service disruption to their areas due to the fire incident.
The management of BEDC, made the appeal in a statement on Sunday.
“Presently all areas connected to the Benin TCN are affected due to a partial system collapse arising from the fire incident as this TCN sub station is interconnected to other TCN locations across the country.
“Every effort is being put in place by stakeholders to restore the light as soon as the fire is contained.
“The specific locations affected by the fire are yet to be known but major parts of Edo State are affected by the outage.
“We appeal for customer understanding and cooperation over the situation,” the statement said.
