THOUSANDS of West Somerset homes and businesses were left without electricity when high voltage overhead cables snapped and started a fire which threatened nearby houses on Wednesday evening (September 17).

The power cables came down at about 5 pm near Whitehall, Watchet, at the start of the West Somerset Mineral Line, and set alight an area of fields and woods.

National Grid engineers worked through the night into Thursday morning before the last of the properties was reconnected 12 hours later, shortly after 5.30 am.

One elderly Whitehall resident, Brian Pankhurst, told the Free Press: “The cables snapped and the field was on fire.

“It started from the top of the field and came down to nearly 30 yards away from the properties.

“I was worried because there was a lot of smoke.”

Minehead firefighters were called to deal with the fire and were supported by two special wildfire appliances from Nether Stowey Fire Station.

A Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue spokesperson said: “Two power cables had fallen and set a small fire to a field.

“Crews used beaters to extinguish the fire covering around 54 sq feet before making the cables safe by isolating the electrics and handing the incident over to the National Grid.”

The power outage initially affected 2,733 properties in an area covering the west of the town and stretching nearly to Blue Anchor and Washford.

But National Grid said power was restored for more than 2,000 of the properties within three minutes, leaving 695 where supplies were gradually reconnected throughout the night.

A National Grid spokesperson said: “The cause of the power cut was a section of overhead line which fell in a field and caused a contained fire which was put out by the fire service.

“We apologise to customers affected for the inconvenience this disruption caused.”