Fire service give update on Hayes substation blaze after police declare major incidentThe Independent
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00:00At 20.23 on the evening of the 20th of March, London Fire Brigade received 212 calls to a fire
00:08in a high voltage substation near Heathrow Airport. The fire involved a transformer comprising of
00:1525,000 litres of cooling oil, fully alight. This created a major hazard due to the still
00:22live high voltage equipment and the nature of the oil-fueled fire. LFB was in close contact
00:30with Blue Light Partners overnight and at 00.42 the Metropolitan Police declared a major incident.
00:37This remains a very visible and significant incident. Our firefighters worked tirelessly
00:44in challenging and very hazardous conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as
00:50possible. As of the most recent update that I have received, approximately 10% remained alight
00:58and we are working with SSE to safely resolve this incident. As a result of the incident,
01:0567,000 households were left without power. Currently 5,000 homes remain without power.
01:12There remains no power at Heathrow Airport Terminal 2 or Terminal 4. The incident caused
01:20London Heathrow to close the airport and planes to be rerouted. We continue to work very closely
01:26with our partners to minimise disruption. 10 fire engines, 2 bulk phone units and 1 high volume
01:34pump were on scene at the peak of this incident. This equates to approximately 70 London Fire Brigade
01:41personnel. Firefighters safely evacuated 29 people from neighbouring properties and as a precaution
01:50a 200 metre cordon was established. Working with the Metropolitan Police Service,
01:55around 150 people were evacuated to a rest centre.