Thousands of homes in Shropshire were left without power after a high voltage electrical cable failed causing an explosion and a fire at a sub-station.
Flames shot up 20ft in the air, black smoke was seen above the sub-station and a loud bang was heard as the cable failed in Market Drayton yesterday.
The incident, which happened at an electrical sub station in Shrewsbury Road at about 3.15pm yesterday, initially left about 2,500 people without power. Electricity bosses said the majority of people had their power restored very quickly.
Engineers worked throughout the night with the final 95 properties in the Shrewsbury Road, Shropshire Street and Cemetery Road area back on at about 4am today.
Sub officer Roger Smith, a retained firefighter based at Market Drayton Fire Station, said: “When we arrived there police had cordoned the road off. The fire didn’t last more than a couple of minutes but the flames were about 20ft high with a column of black smoke going up as well.
Fire crews remained at the scene until the sub-station was made safe by Central Networks.
A spokesman for Central Networks said: “2,500 properties lost power at about 3.15pm. We got 900 properties back on within half an hour.
“We would like to apologise to everyone affected.”
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