A fire at an electricity substation near London’s Heathrow Airport on Thursday cut power to the world’s second busiest airport. More than 1,000 flights were canceled as a result of the power outage and the airport was forced to close its doors for the first time in more than a decade.
At around 11 p.m. GMT (7 p.m. EST) on Thursday March 20, a fire broke out at an electricity substation in Hayes on the outskirts of the UK capital city, London. The fire cut power to around 100,000 homes and Heathrow Airport.
With no power, the airport was forced to cease operation, and more than a hundred flights that were heading to the UK were diverted, reports the Guardian. The airport remains closed more than 12 hours later and it’s now estimated that more than 1,300 flights could be canceled as a result of the power outage.
In the dark
The fire broke out at around 11 p.m. UK time on March 20, and firefighters were on the scene by 11:20 p.m. on Thursday. The blaze hit a substation on the outskirts of the UK capital, as well as a backup generator that serves Heathrow Airport, reports Bloomberg.
With no power at Europe’s busiest airport, the facility was forced to close and turn away hundreds of flights. At the time of the fire, aircraft traveling to the UK from Australia were diverted to Paris and flights from New York landed in Ireland.
The airport confirmed that it will remain closed until 11:59 p.m. on March 21 at the earliest, and all scheduled flights were canceled for today.
More than 1,000 flights cancelled
Heathrow Airport is busiest in Europe and the second busiest in terms of number of flights operated in the world. As such, the closure wrought havoc to airlines, especially at British Airways which uses Heathrow as a hub, as the Guardian explains:
British Airways, which operates just over half of the flights from Heathrow, said: “This will clearly have a significant impact on our operation and our customers and we’re working as quickly as possible to update them on their travel options for the next 24 hours and beyond.”
The British carrier cancelled 677 flights out of Heathrow, and Virgin Atlantic, American Airlines and United have all also been forced to stop flights for the day. Some flights that had already taken off at the time of the fire were diverted to airports such as Paris, Shannon in Ireland, and London’s other airports. Flights that couldn’t be diverted were turned back to their airport of origin.
Fire under control
Once the fire was spotted late last night, first responders were quickly on the scene. In total, the Guardian reports that around 70 firefighters attended the blaze in Hayes to the west of the UK capital. As of 8 a.m. GMT this morning (4am ET), authorities reported that the fire was finally under control.
An investigation hasn’t yet been launched into the blaze, but Bloomberg added that police will be on hand should “suspicious circumstances” be uncovered at the burned substation. So far, a cause for the fire hasn’t been determined and there are no signs of foul play.
The fire and subsequent power loss at Heathrow marks the first time that the airport shut its doors for an extended period of time in more than a decade. The last time Heathrow closed was back in 2010 when severe snowfall forced it to close.
