Advertisement

Underground electrical fire leads to evacuations in London

By Danielle Haynes
An underground electrical fire Wednesday in central London prompted the evacuation of 2,000 people. Photo courtesy @LondonFire/Twitter
1 of 7 | An underground electrical fire Wednesday in central London prompted the evacuation of 2,000 people. Photo courtesy @LondonFire/Twitter

LONDON, April 1 (UPI) -- About 2,000 people in central London were evacuated Wednesday after smoke billowed from an underground electrical fire. No injuries were reported.

A power cable fire around 12:39 p.m. local time in the Holborn area of London produced large amounts of black smoke and caused a power outage in the area.

Advertisement

"Crews worked closely with the various electricity companies involved to identify the source and extent of the fire which was underground," London Fire Brigade Assistant Commissioner Peter Cowup said. "As this was likely to be an electrical fire we had to ensure the power was off before we applied water to extinguish it.

"We worked with our partners and implemented a well-rehearsed plan to prevent the fire from spreading and to protect surrounding properties."

Cowup said the fire was contained around 8:10 p.m. and crews would be on hand into the night to continue extinguishing it.

UK Power Networks said because of the intensity of the fire, the pavement at the fire site would have to be dug up.

"A number of customers in this area are without electricity at the moment and we're going to work continuously to restore it," Matt Rudling, from UK Power Networks said.

Advertisement

The incident caused a number of West End theater shows to be canceled, the BBC reported.

Latest Headlines