Thousands of homes were left without power after the fire in Poplar
(Picture: LFB)East London homes are being hooked up to temporary generators after a fire at an electrical substation left thousands of home without power.
Thousands of homes were left without power after the fire in Poplar on Tuesday.
It also sparked rush hour transport chaos, with three tunnels closed and the DLR suspended while firefighters tackled the blaze.
Power supplies have been restored in the E1 and E14 postcode areas, a spokesperson for UK Power Networks said.
They added: “Since then we have turned power off to a small number of customers for short periods, to allow additional repair work to take place safely.
“We cannot provide details of individual customers, but we are in close contact with those still requiring generator support while repairs to the mains electricity infrastructure are undertaken.
“All repair work on the Poplar site will be undertaken as quickly as is safely possible.”
Kerry Tabner, who lives in Limehouse, Tower Hamlets, was among those affected by the power outage.
Ms Tabner, who has a newborn and a seven-year-old daughter, was left without electricity and running water from 12.30pm on Tuesday until 5.45am on Wednesday.
She said she first realised the power was out when the internet stopped working followed by the oven and then the water.
The mum admitted it was “very stressful, not ideal for anyone let alone with a newborn baby”.
She said: “My baby was due a feed so I was stressing, I couldn’t feed her. If it wasn’t for a friend picking up pre-made milk, I don’t know what I would have done. I’d have been really stuck.”
She was receiving text updates from UK Power Networks but her phone eventually died.
I have a 7yr old a new born had no electricity from 12.30pm to 5.44am and we still have no water from the power cut incident. A van come to deliver hot water which was a 6mins walk from my house yet my block in darkness and my daughterhas covid so unable to go and collect @myldn
— Kҽɾɾყ Aʅιƈҽ TαႦɳҽɾ (@kerry_tabner) March 30, 2022
The mum-of-two said a van was sent by a local authority or the power firm at around 8pm “but it was 10 minutes down the road so I couldn’t even go and charge my phone or get boiling water”.
The London Fire Brigade (LFB) said it had been called to a blaze in Castor Lane, Poplar at 12.48pm, which by Tuesday evening had been extinguished.
Part of the ground floor of a two-storey electrical substation was damaged and around 1,600 people were evacuated from the area.
Station Commander Colin Digby, who was at the scene, said: “Firefighters worked hard in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control.
The cause of a fire at a substation in #Poplar is believed to have been electrical. The fire caused power outages which affected around 4,500 customers https://t.co/l2UXbysXMN pic.twitter.com/grmHgLnNjS
— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) March 31, 2022
“The fire caused power outages in the area, affecting around 4,500 customers.”
Ten fire engines and around 70 firefighters from Shoreditch, Bethnal Green, Shadwell and Plaistow were at the scene.
The cause of the fire is believed to have been electrical.
