Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/866589
maltatoday, SUNDAY, 27 AUGUST 2017 4 News Fire breaks out in Enemalta emergency tunnels ENEMALTA employees worked throughout early Saturday morn- ing to repair extensive network damage, after a fire in one of the company's electricity distribution tunnels disrupted supply to cus- tomers in parts of St Julian's and nearby localities like Pembroke, early on Saturday morning. The 24/7 Network Planning and Operations Control Centre regis- tered a network disturbance at the company's St Andrew's 33 kV Dis- tribution Centre, in Pembroke, at 12:26am on Saturday. The distribution centre was dis- connected from the national grid, disrupting electricity supply to customers in parts of St Julian's, Pembroke, Maghtab, Bahar ic-Ca- ghaq, Swieqi and San Gwann. As soon as the fire in the tunnel supplying this distribution centre was identified, Civil Protection Department fire fighters arrived at the distribution centre to enter the smoke-filled tunnel and extinguish the flames. The burning cables were located several hundred metres inside the underground tunnel. Enemalta of- ficials and engineers were also on site to assess the damages as soon as it was safe to enter the tunnel. Works to repair the 33 kV cables damaged by the fire and reconnect the St Andrew's distribution centre to the national grid started as soon as the CPD confirmed it was safe for the engineers and technicians to reach the incident area. Several Enemalta employees still inside the tunnel were to continue working throughout the day to complete the repairs. On Saturday morning, electricity supply to the customers affected started being gradually restored to some, through alternative connec- tions. Enemalta said it was looking into the incident to identify and imple- ment any measures that may be required to minimise the risk of similar difficulties. The St Andrew's Distribution Centre was re-energised through- out the day, and the few customers who were still being affected by the night's incident were gradually re- connected to the network as well. Enemalta engineers and tech- nicians will continue working in the tunnels until all the burnt ca- bles are replaced, tested and made available to the company's Net- work Planning and Operations Control Centre, to restore the net- work's redundancy in this area, as necessary. Fire damage in distribution tunnels disrupts energy supply to St Julian's, Pembroke, Swieqi and San Gwann The burning cables were located several hundred metres inside the underground tunnel An Enemalta worker fixes damage to the cables from a fire that broke out at the St Andrew's distribution centre, which was disconnected from the national grid, disrupting electricity supply to customers in parts of St Julian's, Pembroke, Maghtab, Bahar ic-Caghaq, Swieqi and San Gwann.