London Heathrow shut after electrical substation fire
March 21, 2025
London Heathrow is to remain shut until midnight tonight following a fire at a local electrical substation in the West London suburb of Hayes, North Hyde, with part of a transformer remaining alight as of Friday morning.
The fire broke out late on Thursday night, with the London Fire Brigade called at 23:23. Ten appliances and around 70 firefighters from Hayes, Heathrow, Hillingdon, Southall and surrounding fire stations were mobilised to tackle the blaze, with around 150 local people evacuated. Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulborne confirmed that the “highly visible and significant incident” would be a “prolonged” one, with part of the transformer still alight at approximately 6am despite crews “working tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible”.
The power outage has affected a “large number” of homes and local businesses as well as the airport, they added, cautioning: “As we head into the morning, disruption is expected to increase, and we urge people to avoid the area wherever possible”. The cause of the fire is not yet known.
“Due to a fire at an electrical substation supplying the airport, Heathrow is experiencing a significant power outage,” wrote the airport on social media. “Passengers are advised not to travel to the airport and should contact their airline for further information”.
Flight tracking service Flightradar24 estimated that the total closure of the airport would impact at least 1,351 flights to and from Heathrow, not including “any flights that might be cancelled or delayed due to aircraft being out of position”. Overnight, Flightradar data showed countless services already in the air turning around to return to their departure airport.
The National Grid confirmed it was “working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible and will provide an update as soon as [it] can”.
Regardless of when connectivity may be restored, the disruption to travel is nevertheless substantial. January 2025 marked the eleventh consecutive month Heathrow had averaged over 200,000 passengers a day, with the month’s passenger figures reaching a record-breaking 6.3 million.
