An energy company has confirmed the cause of a powercut that affected thousands of homes in east Durham and could have started a large corn field fire.
Homes in the Seaham, Murton and Peterlee areas lost power at the same time that a field fire began on a farm at Cold Hesledon - which a farmer put down to a 'fault on an electricity pylon'.
A spokeswoman for Northern Powergrid said: “At around 5.35pm on Tuesday (August 9) we had a fault on our overhead network which caused a power cut for around 2,800 customers in the SR7 7, 8 and 9 areas.
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"We successfully restored power to more than 2,500 customers in under three minutes. Further customers were restored by 7pm and the remaining 160 customers affected were restored just after midnight.
“The fault caused damage to our overhead network equipment which has been repaired and we are currently investigating what happened.
“We are sorry for the disruption caused. We thank our customers for their patience and understanding whilst our teams worked to safely restore their supplies.”
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A video shared on social media on Tuesday showed a sheet of flame spread across a field, between Seaham and Murton, as a tractor drove up and down in front of a wall of billowing smoke.
A farmer wrote: "Me daughter recorded this. That’s me in the middle trying to put the thing out. Started by a fault on the electric pylon."
Thick clouds of smoke could be seen from as far away as Blackhall Rocks several miles away late Tuesday afternoon (August 9).
A spokesperson for the County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service said: "We were called to a fire at Cold Hesledon at about 5.35pm on Tuesday.
"Five appliances were dispatched to the scene. On arrival, firefighters found 10 acres of corn well alight.
"Hose reels and beaters were used to deal with the fire.."
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