Air travel worldwide disrupted by a fire near Heathrow Airport: 25,000 liters of cooling oil burned in an electrical substation
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A fire at an electrical substation near Heathrow Airport caused a major power outage, leading to the temporary closure of the busy airport on Friday March 21. The incident is assessed to have disrupted over 1,300 flights, and may have affected as many as 290,000 passengers worldwide.
According to London Fire Brigadeon Thursday March 20, 2025, at 11:23 PM GMT, emergency services responded to a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation on Nestles Avenue in Hayes, Hillingdon. Ten fire engines and 70 firefighters were dispatched, and a 200 meter / 650-foot safety cordon was established.
As of 1:00 PM on March 21, the fire continued to burn at a diminished intensity, fuelled by 25,000 liters (6,600 gallons) of cooling oil contained within the transformer.
The temporary shutdown of this major airport hub has impacted global travel schedules, with airlines struggling to reroute planes and crews. Authorities areinvestigating the cause of the fire, although London Fire Brigade and other agencies has assessed the fire as non-suspicious. LFB announced its investigation will focus on the electrical distribution equipment.
Photo Credit: (Cover Photo above) Wikipedia Commons License
Electricity sub-station at Hayes on North Hyde Gardens before the fire. The transformer shown on the right was destroyed by the fire.
Photo by David Hawgood, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13490946
63,000 lost power and 150 evacuated
The Irish Independent wrote on Monday 24th of March that the closure may have impacted more than 1,300 flights and up to 291,000 passengers in total.
The BBC wrote on March 22 thatmore than 63,000 homes lost power in the outage caused by the fire, referring to energy supplier Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks.
150 people were evacuated from surrounding properties, according to London Fire Brigade.
According to Wikipediafollowing the start of the fire, Heathrow Airport declared its closure on March 21, resulting in 120 flights being redirected to other airports in the UK and other parts of Europe.
The airplane analytics firm Cirium estimated that around 290,000 travellers scheduled to fly to or from Heathrow Airport would affected.
According to The Standard, flights were slowly resumed on Saturday. However, ripple effects from the disruptions is reported to have continued also after.
"Flights have resumed at Heathrow, and we are open and fully operational," Heathrow Airport said on X on March 22. "Teams across the airport continue to do everything they can to support passengers impacted by yesterday's outage at an off-airport power substation."
Concerns about critical infrastructure raised after the fire
The incident has raised concerns about the resilience of critical infrastructure: An article on the chamber UK explores the vulnerabilities exposed by the fire and raises questions about the robustness of essential services and contingency planning.
An article on the daily mail discusses how Heathrow needed to shut down operations due to the loss of one power station, or if the power from other substations would have been enough to maintain operations.
According to ABC newsUK 's secretary of state for energy security and net zero, Ed Miliband, announced Saturday that he is ordering an investigation into the substation fire.
Summary from the London Fire Brigade:
London Fire Brigade wrote on March 20th that LBF Investigation Officers, supported by a scientific advisor, have worked closely with the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) to investigate the cause of the fire in a high voltage substation near Heathrow Airport, which began on the evening of 20 March. The MPS has confirmed the fire is believed to be non-suspicious.... Additionally, the Brigade is the enforcing authority for the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 and has therefore had Fire Safety Officers at the scene to follow up various lines of enquiry, and work will continue into the coming weeks."
London Fire Brigade Deputy Commissioner Jonathan Smith shared details about the fire near Heathrow Airport:
The Brigade first received reports of the incident at 11:23 PM on March 20, ultimately handling 212 calls about the blaze at a high-voltage substation. The fire involved a transformer containing 25,000 liters of cooling oil, posing a significant hazard due to the live electrical equipment and the nature of an oil-fueled fire.
Emergency crews responded promptly, with the first team arriving at the scene within five minutes of being dispatched. Close coordination with other emergency services followed, and at 12:42 AM, the Metropolitan Police declared a major incident.
At the peak of the operation, approximately 70 personnel were deployed, using 10 fire engines, two Bulk Foam Units, and a High Volume Pump. Despite challenging and hazardous conditions, firefighters worked diligently to control the fire.
As part of the emergency response, 29 individuals were safely evacuated from neighboring properties. A 200-meter cordon was established as a precaution, and around 150 people were relocated to a rest center. Most have since been able to return home.