FIRE chiefs have said an electrical fire at a sub-station which caused a power outage in Stourbridge was “accidental”.

Firefighters from Brierley Hill Fire Station responded just after 3.35pm on Sunday (March 17) to an electrical fire affecting an electricity sub-station off Brettell Lane, Amblecote, which left 1,832 homes without power temporarily.

A spokesperson for West Midlands Fire Service said: “This was an accidental fire, which was put out using carbon dioxide extinguishers.

“We left the incident in the hands of National Grid at around 4.45pm.”

A spokesperson for National Grid said: “The failure of a cable end box at one of our substations led to a loss of electricity for initially 1,832 customers.

“Automatic switching meant about 1,200 customers had power restored within three minutes, with all but one of the remaining customers back on supply within three hours. The last remaining customer affected was reconnected at 00.46.

“We apologise to customers for the disruption this fault caused and thank them for their patience.”