Hayes, West London – A ferocious blaze tore through a major electrical substation in Hayes late last night, plunging thousands of homes into darkness and forcing Heathrow Airport to grind to a halt. Mansoor Ameeri captured the terrifying inferno on video as flames erupted from 25,000 litres of cooling oil, sparking chaos in the early hours of March 20. The London Fire Brigade scrambled ten fire engines to battle the roaring fire, which broke out at 11.20pm, while emergency crews evacuated 150 terrified residents from their homes.

The Metropolitan Police branded it a major incident as Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) revealed that 4,800 households are still without power. Overnight, more than 66,000 homes were left in the dark, though engineers have clawed back electricity for most. A live power map shows Pump Lane and Coldharbour Lane bearing the brunt of the outage. SSEN is racing to restore power by 3pm today, but for now, the area remains crippled.

Heathrow, the UK’s busiest airport, has been forced to shut its doors until midnight tonight, stranding over 200,000 passengers. Planes and crews are scattered in the wrong places, and travellers face days of misery. A Heathrow spokesperson admitted: “We’re experiencing a significant power outage due to a large fire at a nearby substation. To keep everyone safe, we’ve closed until 23h59 on 21 March 2025. Don’t come to the airport until we reopen.” They added that disruption could linger, leaving holidaymakers and business travellers fuming.

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