Counter-terror police investigating Heathrow fire

The force said there was "currently no indication of foul play" but officers were retaining an "open mind at this time" into the cause of the blaze. Flights have been cancelled, people evacuated from their homes and local schools shut after two explosions and a fire at an electrical substation in Hayes, west London on Thursday night. The airport, which is the UK's busiest, has warned of "significant disruption" over the coming days and told passengers not to travel under any circumstances until it reopens. A Met spokesperson said its Counter Terrorism Command was leading the investigation due to "the location of the substation and the impact this incident has had on critical national infrastructure". They added the command has the "specialist resources and capabilities" to progress the investigation "at pace to minimise disruption and identify the cause". Emergency services were first called to the scene at 23:20 GMT. Video shared on social media showed tall flames and smoke billowing from the substation overnight. London Fire Brigade (LFB), which is also taking part in the investigation, said the fire involved a transformer containing 25,000 litres (5,500 gallons) of cooling fluid, that had been set alight. Thousands of homes in the area were left without power as a result, as well as the airport. National Grid said on X while it had restored power to 62,000 customers by 06:00, some 4,900 homes remained without power. It told the BBC it expected power to be back on "in hours", but that it was too soon to say exactly when this would be. At least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow will be affected on Friday, flight tracking website Flightradar24 said on X, with some 120 affected aircraft already in the air when the closure was announced. The Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told BBC Radio 4's Today programme it was an unprecedented event which "appears to have knocked out a back-up generator as well as a substation itself". Ruth Cadbury, chair of the Commons Transport Committee, said the issue "does raise questions about infrastructure resilience". A Downing Street spokesperson said: "There are questions to answer... but our clarity right now is on this incident being appropriately dealt with." They added it "wouldn't be unreasonable to expect checks on resilience" were being carried out at other major airports. A multi-agency call has been held between government department officials, as well as National Grid, the Civil Aviation Authority, National Air Traffic Services, and emergency services to "ensure a quick resolution" of the situation, they continued. Ofgem, the energy regulator, announced it would commission a review "to understand the cause of this incident and what lessons can be learned". Heathrow Airport said its back-up diesel generators had "all operated as expected... but they are not designed to allow us to run a full operation". "As the busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow uses as much energy as a small city, therefore it's not possible to have back-up for all of the energy we need to run our operation safely." The airport added it was "implementing a process which will allow us to redirect power to the affected areas, but this is a safety critical process which takes time... so we have taken the decision to close the airport for today". Ten fire engines and about 70 firefighters were sent to tackle the blaze, LFB said, with the fire being brought under control by 06:30. A 200m (656 ft) cordon was put in place as a precaution, and local residents have been advised to keep doors and windows closed because of a "significant amount of smoke". The brigade, which received nearly 200 calls about the fire, added it led 29 people to safety, with about 150 others being evacuated from nearby properties. A group of residents who were evacuated from their homes gathered at a nearby Premier Inn but said there had been little communication overnight, leaving them confused about where to go. Vaneca Sinclair, 64, said she was "getting ready to go to bed" when "suddenly there was this huge bang and the house just shook". "I thought maybe someone had crashed into the wall or something and then opened the front door... and there were just these flames everywhere down at the bottom of the road." She described the scene as "unbelievable – the flames and the smoke and everything… it was just scary". Ms Sinclair said police later told them to return home and grab essentials before evacuating, but no-one told them where to gather and eventually they walked to the hotel where they could have hot drinks and use the toilets. Her neighbour Savita Kapur, 51, said she "literally just ran out of the house" when she heard the first explosion. She said police officers told them to go back inside before eventually telling her she needed to leave. "I have an elderly mother who is in her 80s and not very well at all - I had to escort her into my car and get her out of the area and drop her off to my sisters." Ms Kapur said a "second explosion went off" as she was driving along the road "and the whole ground shook".