Puerto Rico Suffers a Massive Blackout Due to a Fire at a Power Plant

Firefighters from the southern municipalities of Ponce and Guayanilla Those displaced to the place managed to extinguish the fire and are now working on “cooling work,” the Fire Department Bureau reported on Twitter.

Despite this, as GLM was able to verify, the power outage remains in areas of San Juan and surroundings.

The governor Peter Pierluisi reported on Twitter that there was “a critical breakdown in the South Central” that has caused the entire electrical power system “to be protected and out of service.”

“Preliminarily, it is estimated that it will take approximately 12 to 24 hours to restore service, giving priority to hospital and basic services,” he explained.

A video published by the Electric Power Authority (PREPA) shows the fire in Unit 5 of Costa Sur, while another shows firefighters working on the spot.

PREPA pointed out that, due to the fire, “the electrical protection system took the rest of the units that were generating out of service.”

For its part, the company in charge of electricity distribution, LUMA Energy, indicated in a statement that the blackout was “potentially caused by a failure in a circuit breaker at the Costa Sur generation plant” but that at the moment no they have “clear the exact cause”.

“LUMA teams are responding and working to restore service as quickly as possible. Given the size and scope of the blackout, power restoration could stretch into tomorrow,” she added.

Hospitals are running on generators and, according to the Secretary of Health, Carlos Mellado, they have “sufficient supplies of fuel and no major inconveniences are reported.”

Blackouts are frequent in Puerto Rico but usually their duration is not very long.