Overview
- The fire began at a regulating transformer at TenneT’s Meeden substation on Saturday evening and spread into large volumes of cooling oil stored in underground cellars.
- High voltages and inaccessible oil-filled cellars made direct attack unsafe, so firefighters used specialist tactics including drones, a blusrobot, foam and partial removal of the façade before a targeted extinguishing operation succeeded on Monday evening.
- TenneT shut the station as a precaution and rerouted supply to prevent outages, so local electricity supply remained uninterrupted during the multi-day response.
- Authorities raised the response to GRIP 2, sent NL-Alert when thick black smoke spread, and advised residents to keep windows closed, wash soot with water and soap, and discard any garden produce that cannot be cleaned.
- The scene has been handed to TenneT for inspection and recovery, the site will be monitored for re‑ignition risks, and an information meeting for residents is scheduled for Tuesday at 20:00 in De Rode Beuk in Meeden.