What Happened
In the early hours of Monday, August 17, 2026, a fire broke out at the Tolosa electrical substation, located at 528 Street between General Belgrano Road and 9 Street in La Plata, Argentina. La Plata is the capital city of Buenos Aires Province, and the incident, which included a transformer explosion, triggered a massive blackout affecting the city and surrounding areas.
The fire started around 2:30 AM and required four firefighting units and two water tankers to control. Flames were brought under control by approximately 6:00 AM. As a precaution, nearby homes were evacuated, but no injuries were reported.
Affected Areas
- La Plata urban center
- Tolosa
- Ringuelet
- Villa Castells
- San Carlos
- José Hernández
- Gonnet
- Ensenada
- 10 km of the Buenos Aires-La Plata highway without lighting
Blackout Numbers
Nearly 65,000 users were affected in total.
By 3:00 PM, 43,000 users (over 60%) had their power restored.
22,000 users (about 5% of the distributor's total) remained without electricity.
Ringuelet and Tolosa were the hardest hit, with approximately 12,000 users still in the dark.
Emergency Response
EDELAP, the local electricity distributor, activated its Emergency Operational Plan from the start. Power is being restored gradually through network reconfiguration and the deployment of more than 15 mobile generators.
Priority is being given to essential services, including health facilities and electrically dependent users. The company is in constant communication with municipal and provincial governments to coordinate resources.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. No injuries were reported.