Fifth case of bushfire, damage to EFL poles

A fifth case of bushfire within 20 days resulted in damage to Energy Fiji Ltd’s power poles in the Western Division on Tuesday.

Parts of Ba, Tavua, Vatukoula, Nadarivatu and Rakiraki was without power supply from 10pm on Tuesday night to late yesterday afternoon.

“This is the second bush fire in Busabusa, Ba, within the week,” said EFL CEO Hasmukh Patel.

“It’s rather unfortunate that we have another fire, fifth within a span of 20 days of September 2022, damaging EFL infrastructure causing disruption of power supply, inconvenience to our valued customers and an adverse impact to economic activity. EFL is requesting members of the public who live along the sugarcane belt areas or along the sugarcane farm residences to take extra precautionary measures when lighting up fires.”

The burnt pole was along the 33.000 volts transmission line, which supplies power from the Rarawai Zone Substation in Ba to Tavua and all the way to the Volivoli Zone Substation in Rakiraki.

“The burnt power poles affect our ability to transmit power from EFL’s Rarawai Zone Substation to Vatukoula, Tavua Substations and the Volivoli Zone Substation in Rakiraki. “