Power outage that threw London travel into chaos sparked substation fire weeks after previous blaze

Firefighters from the London Fire Brigade were called out to a fire at a substation in the Aberdeen Place area in Maida Vale, north west London, at 2.11pm on Monday.

The Brigade’s Control Officers took the first of 16 calls about the fire and mobilised crews from Paddington and Harrow to the scene.

When they arrived, the crews found that high-voltage cabling connected to the substation was alight.

The fire is believed to have been by the power outage which caused four Underground lines and the Elizabeth line to be suspended ahead of afternoon rush hour.

It is understood three metres of high-voltage cabling were destroyed and hundreds of businesses south of Oxford Street have been affected.

Speaking from the scene, Station Commander Paul Meyrick said: "There is light smoke in the vicinity of the substation fire so residents are advised to keep windows and doors shut at this time."

It comes after the same electrical substation erupted into a huge blaze on Tuesday, April 29, with smoke from the fire seen for miles around.

On that occasion, fifteen fire engines and 100 firefighters were at the scene in Aberdeen Place in Maida Vale at 5.29am.

Plumes of smoke could be seen billowing across north-west London as crews attempted to tame the flames.

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Part of the roof of a neighbouring residential building was also alight, as locals were told to keep their windows and doors closed amid fears of air pollution.

80 people were also evacuated from nearby flats.

The fire was caused by faulty equipment, the UK Power Network confirmed.

A spokesperson said: "The cause (of the fire) was a fault on a piece of equipment in our substation."