CPS Energy is responding to questions sparked by a fire at a Southside substation that left nearly 5,000 customers without power on Monday, July 11. 

With the threat of a strained power system looming as extreme temperatures spread throughout the state, a Southside San Antonio outage on Monday, July 11 prompted some questions from residents. 

A fire at a CPS Energy substation at Pyron and Huff caused outages for 4,908 customers in the Harlandale and Mission San Jose areas Monday evening as temperatures surpassed 100 degrees. Christine Patmon, a spokeswoman for the utility company, tells MySA that the cause of the fire has not been determined but the extreme heat was not the reason. 

Patmon also says energy disruptions were not rolling outages. Customers were taken offline as a safety precaution while SAFD battled the blaze.

"Our first priority was getting our customers back online after taking them offline for safety as SAFD had to go in and extinguish the fire," Patmon says. "Our initial cause as of now is equipment failure." 

Social media conversations swirled as photos showing plumes of smoke billowing from the equipment were posted on various platforms. While the sight provoked ERCOT-related anxieties as the grid operator asks Texans to conserve energy, Patmon says the equipment failure is not rare.

"It is not uncommon for electrical equipment to have a service issue and fail from ongoing use, just like any part of a vehicle or within a household," Patmon says. 

Patmon adds that the fire was reported shortly after 5:30 p.m. The forced outages lasted 48 minutes, affecting neighborhoods spread across Pleasanton Road, Southcross, South Flores, and Southwest Military Drive. According to a CPS tweet, energy was fully restored by 7:03 p.m. 

Madalyn Mendoza is a proud Alamo City native. Keep up with her work and puro San Antonio happenings on Twitter, @MaddySkye.