A fire broke out early this morning in Darlington, causing a power cut to over 100 homes and businesses.

The incident occurred shortly before 6:30am today (Friday, November 25).

It is understood that no one was hurt as a result of the fire, the fire brigade arrived on the scene quickly and left just before 11am.

A County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “Reports of smoke coming from below the pavement on Stanhope Road, Darlington came into control at 6:24am on 25 November. Fire crews attended from Darlington, Spennymoor, Newton Aycliffe and Bishop Auckland.

“On arrival crews found an electrical junction box alight and contacted the electricity board. Electricity board staff worked to isolate the feeds and to bypass. The last fire appliance left just before 11am.”

The power cut affected numerous homes and businesses in the area, one being popular lunch spot, The Pasta Shop, on Woodland Road.

The Northern Echo: The Pasta Shop is one of the businesses affected by the power cut caused by the fireThe Pasta Shop is one of the businesses affected by the power cut caused by the fire (Image: Aja Dodd, Newsquest)

Veronika Lazarova from The Pasta Shop told The Northern Echo: “We’ve had a power cut because of the power cut on Stanhope Road. We’re open but we can’t heat any food so we can only sell food for people to heat at home.

“It’s annoying because we were expecting for it to be busy today but it’s one of those things. I’ve decided to stay Zen about it but I'm not expecting the power to be back on today.”

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