A large-scale power outage struck the Baden-Württemberg city of Reutlingen in the early hours of Monday morning after a fire broke out at a local substation. The blackout, which began at around 2:00 a.m., affected thousands of households across the city and extended to the neighbouring municipalities of Wannweil and Kirchentellinsfurt.
The fire directly impacted two substations serving the area, Mark West and Mitte. Hours after the blaze was brought under control, approximately 7,600 households across the affected areas remained without electricity. Officials were unable to provide a reliable estimate for when power would be fully restored to all remaining households.
Around 200 firefighters were deployed to the scene following the outbreak of the fire. After approximately three hours, the blaze was extinguished at around 5:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Partial power restoration began roughly one hour later. Due to the scale of the disruption, the district fire chief declared a major incident, prompting city administrators in Reutlingen to be alerted in the middle of the night.
Reutlingen's main hospital was among the critical facilities affected by the blackout, operating without mains electricity for several hours. The hospital relied on its emergency backup power supply to maintain operations during the outage. Once substation Mitte was brought back online after several hours, the city centre — including the hospital, had its power supply restored.
Local police launched an investigation into the cause of the fire in cooperation with the Baden-Württemberg State Criminal Investigation Office (LKA), marking a significant escalation in the probe. Police spokesperson Tina Rempfer stated that investigators are pursuing all possible directions. Arson, negligent or deliberate misconduct, and a technical fault are all being considered as potential causes. "All possibilities are being taken into account," she said.
Beyond the loss of electricity, the outage caused significant disruption to communications infrastructure. Telephone and internet services were functioning only in a limited capacity across the affected areas. Authorities worked closely with the fire brigade and police to develop strategies to supply the local population with essential provisions during the ongoing disruption.
While substation Mitte has resumed operations, restoring power to the city centre and the hospital, substation Mark West remains offline. The city confirmed that the outage is expected to continue for an extended period for households still affected. No reliable forecast for full restoration has been issued.
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