Residents and stores along a stretch of road in Cattedown have been left without power following an electrical fire this morning.
National Grid workers along with officers from Highways England and Plymouth City Council were left assessing the incident in an attempt to get the power back on to all the properties along Embankment Road after it was shut off to assist the efforts by firefighters.
A spokesperson from Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service confirmed appliances were called from a number of stations, including Totnes, Plympton, Camels Head, Crownhill, Greenbank, Plymstock, Ivybridge and Yelverton.
Speaking to PlymouthLive from the scene, the fire service’s incident commander Jody Freeman said the call was received at 6.06am this morning describing a fire under the stairs in a communal area on the lower ground floor of a four story building.
He said two appliances from Greenbank and one from Camels Head initially attended and crews confirmed the fire involved an electrical unit in the basement. As a result they requested the attendance of the police, National Grid and a further two pumps for carbon dioxide fire extinguishers.
Commander Freeman said the incident was escalated up to a total of nine appliances as well as a command vehicle, due to the number of breathing apparatus used which were required as part of the operation to tackle the fire.
Fire crews at the scene of a blaze on Embankment Road
(Image: PlymouthLive/Carl Eve)
He said: “We were initially told there were people inside the property but they were all out and clear of the building by the time crews arrived. The electrical fire spread to the ground floor and we had smoke spreading to properties above. Due to concerns and as a precaution we evacuated the entire building and adjacent buildings.
“We contained the fire whilst we awaited National Grid to isolate the electrical supply – this was needed to make it safe to extinguish the fire in the electrical unit. They had to isolate it from the nearby substation, which took out the power to the street, including the traffic lights. Due to the number of appliances and the power outage, police arranged for the road to be closed to traffic in both directions.
Inside a building following a fire on Embankment Road
(Image: PlymouthLive/Carl Eve)
The fire service confirmed that at 7.12am ‘multi-agency meeting’ was carried out at the scene to agree to the isolation of the power to the street to allow crews to extinguish the fire. A further multi-agency meeting involving the fire service, police, ambulance and utility services was carried out at 8.29am.
Commander Freeman told PlymouthLive at 9.15am: “The fire is now out and we’ve scaled back the incident, with one appliance remaining, just as a precaution. We’re liaising with National Grid to get the power back on. It’s a set of terraced properties and some are already going back on but there is an ongoing discussion about the affected property’s power supply.
“At present the police are keeping the inbound side of the road closed to traffic in case a decision is made which requires the road to be dug up to access the main power line.”
Area affected by power outage this morning following electrical fire in Embankment Road
(Image: National Grid)
A spokesperson for National Grid told PlymouthLive that as of 10.45am a total of 93 properties were still without power but it was hoped the matter would be resolved by 12.30pm. The spokesperson added that there was “no plan to dig up the road and we hope to have the power back on by 12.30pm or sooner”.