Heathrow Closed By Fire, Travel Disrupted Globally

The BBC reports:

Heathrow Airport will be closed throughout Friday after a fire at an electrical substation halted all flights with local residents evacuated from their homes and schools shut.

Almost 5,000 homes remain without power after two explosions and a fire at the substation in Hayes, west London, and 150 people have been evacuated from surrounding properties. Emergency services were first called to the scene at 23:23 GMT, and video shared on social media showed tall flames and smoke billowing from the substation overnight.

The airport, which is the UK’s busiest, has warned of “significant disruption” over the coming days and told passengers not to travel “under any circumstances” until it reopens. London Fire Brigade (LFB) has said the fire is now under control after a transformer was previously alight. The cause of the blaze is yet to be determined.

The New York Times reports:

Travelers braced for chaos as Heathrow Airport in London was expected to remain shut all of Friday because of a power outage, grinding flights to a halt at one of the world’s busiest airports and disrupting travel across the globe, possibly for days.

Officials at Heathrow said the airport would remain closed until 11:59 p.m. local time because of a fire nearby that caused a power outage overnight. Ed Miliband, Britain’s energy secretary, described the blaze to Sky News as a catastrophic fire that had also affected backup systems, complicating the response.

Speaking to LBC radio on Friday morning, he said that “there’s no suggestion there is any foul play” having led to the fire, but that “we don’t yet have a real understanding” of its cause. Around the world, people were seeing their plans upended, and analysts said it could take several days for airlines to rebook passengers because of the large numbers.

The BBC link is a live-blog with updates.