A second substation has exploded in Leicester in the space of 11 days.
The blast happened at about 10pm yesterday in Millstone Lane, in the city centre, wiping out power to 260 nearby properties.
The explosion followed a similar incident at a substation in Sanvey Gate, off St Margaret’s Way in the city, on Monday, June 30.
In both cases, the blast was due to an electrical fault.
However, Western Power Distribution said it did not think the two explosions were linked.
The substation in the latest incident is on the ground floor of a five-storey disused office block, opposite the Criterion pub.
The explosion blew a window and a piece of metal grating out of the building, and caused smoke damage to the facade.
Mark Etchells, 27, was working in the Spar shop opposite the substation when the blast happened.
He said: “I was serving a customer then all of a sudden we heard a large bang. We went to the door and the building opposite us was ablaze.
“I could see a huge amount of smoke coming out of one side.”
He said metal grating, about 3m x 4m, had shot out of the building.
Mark, who lives in the city centre, added: “For about five or 10 minutes a bright orange glow was coming out of the building.
“It was getting choky with all of the smoke around. It was like a burning plastic smell, really thick, and it was really hard to breathe. I tried to hold my breath.”
He said that when the police arrived, the building he was in was evacuated.
Criterion pub manager Russell Hunt said that at about 10pm, all the power in his building cut out.
“It sounded like something was winding down, like a system was going down,” he said.
“The first thing we saw was the smoke. We had to evacuate everyone - we had 30 or 40 people to get out.
“It looked quite serious. My main concern was getting everyone out of the building.”
The blast happened on the opposite side of the building to the one which faces the Criterion.
“There was no heat from this side,” said Russell. “But a couple of hours later you could still smell the traces - it was an electrical smell, rather than burning. It was very much the smell of electrical damage.”
He said that when emergency services arrived, the area around the building was cordoned off.
”The streets were full of residents who had been in their accommodation with no power,” said Russell.
“It was quite disconcerting to have no street lights, no traffic lights and all the buildings out.”
As spokesman from Western Power said: “The cause of the incident is being investigated, but it is believed that it was caused by the failure of a cable component in the substation.
“It is not thought to be linked to the incident a couple of weeks ago.”
The company’s engineers worked to re-route the supply and 50 minutes after the explosion had happened 130 buildings had power restored.
The remaining buildings, as well as the traffic lights on Vaughan Way, had their power back by 5am, supplied by a generator.
“Our engineers worked through the night to restore power supplies to those affected as quickly as possible and to minimise disruption, and we would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused.
“We have around 1,100 substations across Leicester - all of which are covered by a regular programme of inspection and maintenance.
“The equipment at the substation in Millstone Lane had been inspected within the last 12 months as part of our routine programme and no problems were identified.
“Once the outcome of the investigation is known, we will be able to determine whether any further actions are required.”
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