British authorities ordered an investigation into the UK’s “energy resilience” and electrical infrastructure after a massive fire broke out at London’s Heathrow Airport on Friday oversaw approximately 200,000 passengers.
Officials want to know why the flames at a high-voltage electric substation two miles away knocked out electricity to Europe’s busiest travel hub, leading to more than 1,300 flight cancellations.
By Saturday morning, Heathrow Airport had returned and was running as thousands of passengers were stuck waiting for a new flight.
The effects of Friday’s service disruption can be felt for several days as planes and crews are relocating from other parts of the world.
“This is a huge embarrassment for Heathrow Airport,” Labour Party’s Pol Toby Harris said the Associated Press was reporting. “It is a great embarrassment for the country that a fire in one power engine can have such a devastating effect.”
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has directed national energy systems operators who manage the country’s gas and electricity networks to “urgently investigate” the fire to “understand the broader lessons on the energy resilience of critical national infrastructure.”
The investigation is expected to last several weeks.
“The government is determined to do everything possible to prevent repeating what happened at Heathrow,” Miliband said.
The fire caused remains unanswered. People living in West London reported hearing a huge explosion and seeing a fire ball rise from the substation.
It took the firefighters seven hours to put out the flames.
Authorities said the fire appears to have no suspicious origins.
The emergency backup power on Heathrow worked as expected, but it was unable to get the entire airport to work.
Officials said airports, the size of Heathrow, require multiple backup power sources to continue operation.
The turmoil on Friday was one of the most severe since 2010 when Iceland’s Eijafjarayoklu volcano erupted and closed European airspace for several days.
With post wire
