Gibraltar blackout on Sunday afternoon as fire breaks out in main power station

Monday, April 21st 2014 - 07:19 UTC

Full article 5 comments

A fire in the Waterport power station left most of Gibraltar without electricity on Sunday afternoon, reports the Gibraltar Chronicle. Police urged residents in the area to close their windows as thick black smoke billowed from the power station, though no one was injured in the incident.

The offices of online betting company William Hill adjacent to the building were evacuated and the company told customers that its services were down. But police said there had been no need to evacuate nearby residential areas.

Police investigators ruled out foul play and early indications were that a generator caught fire and exploded due to mechanical failure.

The fire started just after to 2pm and emergency services rushed to the scene, sealing off access to the area. Fire fighters brought the situation fire under control within an hour and the blaze was declared extinguished just after 4pm.

At 5.30pm, engineers were at work trying to restore power to Gibraltar.

Categories: Energy & Oil, International.

Tags: blackout, Gibraltar, William Hill.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules

GeoffWard2
So, no online betting across the world.

'Saving people from themselves'
Apr 21st, 2014 - 12:12 pm 0
ChrisR
Alternators of this size last forever if they are correctly maintained and correctly shielded from downstream overloads.

Catching fire is the result if either or both of these things occur.

Unless they have a working spare (which is usually the case in a well run station) then it may be a fair time before things return to normal.

Of course Spain will jump to offer capacity from their grid, NOT.
Apr 21st, 2014 - 04:35 pm 0
Anglotino
It might prompt Gibraltar to seriously think about wind, tide and solar to supplement their generation; which I believe is oil powered? I might be wrong. Seems like an ideal location for all three anyway.
Apr 22nd, 2014 - 01:14 am 0

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