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Fires at houses after power surge Fires at houses after power surge
(30 minutes later)
A power surge in North Lanarkshire was thought to have caused a number of small house fires which left an adult and a child being treated in hospital. A power surge after a cable fault led to a number of house fires in a North Lanarkshire town.
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said it had been "inundated" with calls from the Summerlee area of Coatbridge shortly before midnight on Saturday. About 400 houses were affected by the surge which caused some electricity meters and fuses to blow in the Summerlee area of Coatbridge.
The pair were treated in Monklands Hospital for smoke inhalation. Firefighters said they were "inundated" with calls and attended a number of small fires on Saturday night.
Meanwhile, 40 firefighters tackled a blaze at an unoccupied care home for the elderly in Glasgow on Saturday. In one block of flats a woman and child suffered smoke inhalation when their electricity meter blew up.
The "substantial" fire at Dalness Street broke out at about 2040 BST and has now been brought under control. They were taken to Monklands Hospital as a precaution.
There were no reports of any casualties. Scottish Power said it was making every effort to restore affected customers as soon as possible.
The fire service said it was inundated with calls from Coatbridge and at one point, at least 10 appliances were attending different incidents. An extremely rare underground cable fault caused the damage Scottish Power spokesman Workers are also conducting door-to-door inquiries to discuss potential compensation claims with residents.
"It looks like there's been quite a serious power surge that's affected a number of houses in the Coatbridge area," he said. A Scottish Power spokesman said: "An extremely rare underground cable fault caused the damage.
"Several of them had small fires in their houses." "It led to an over-voltage of some properties in the area.
"When we became aware of this we switched off the supply to around 700 homes, of which 400 customers are still off.
"An investigation has started into the cause of the incident.
"We apologise to all our customers for the inconvenience and distress this has caused."
Meanwhile, more than 40 firefighters last night tackled a blaze at an unoccupied care home.
The "substantial" blaze at 80 Dalness Street, Glasgow, broke out at about 2040 BST and has now been brought under control.
Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said there were no reports of any casualties.