A fire at a high-voltage power station in western Attica late on Sunday night caused an extensive blackout in several regions of south mainland and Peloponnese, including Greek capital Athens. Nobody was injured or harmed from the blaze.
The fire broke out at 11 p.m. n the High Voltage Center (HV) Koumoundourou of IPTO in Aspropyrgos. The flames brightened up the night sky, thus scaring people who saw the fire in the middle of the night.
ΑΥΤΌ ΒΛΈΠΩ ΑΠΌ ΤΟ ΣΠΊΤΙ ΜΟΥ ΤΙ ΣΚΑΤΑ ΈΧΕΙ ΓΊΝΕΙ? pic.twitter.com/uFGHkWfxlG
— Coco-vikou (@To_Lenio_) February 7, 2021
Υποσταθμος της ΔΕΗ στον Ασπρόπυργο φταίει για την διακοπη ρεύματος pic.twitter.com/bXlMl6X8jj
— esprezakias (@esprezakias) February 7, 2021
12 fire fighters rushed to the spot and combated the blaze until 6 o’ clock on Monday morning.
The cause of fire was not immediately clear, but officials from power grid operator ADMIE said it was probably a technical failure.
Power was restored some 40 minutes later in Attica and within 55 minutes in East Peloponnese.
Athens from above during partial blackout (affected mainly west Attica)#ασπροπυργος #blackout #διακοπη_ρευματος #ΔΕΗ pic.twitter.com/nzgZ3Ths7W
— KM©️ (@konstantin_0s) February 8, 2021
Affected by the outage were the center of Athens, several suburbs in the South and West, Piraeus and suburbs, the islands of Poros. Agina and Agistri, Aspropyrgos, Elefsina, Mandra and Megara in western Attica, Loutraki, the areas of Corinth, Nafplio, Tripoli, Sparta. Gythio and Kalamata in Peloponnese.
Blackout darkens the Acropolis of Athens
A joint team of the Fire Service and the Greek Police are investigating the cause of the fire. According to preliminary estimations, the blaze was caused by a short-circuit.
Citing ADMIE, state broadcaster ERT reported that “no toxic cloud was released.”
