The pavement is cordoned off

A SMOKING manhole cover was cordoned off by firefighters in Camden Town this week and dozens of premises lost power after an electrical smoke began emerging from underneath the pavement.

The incident unfolded outside burger chain Wendy’s on Tuesday lunchtime, with onlookers telling the New Journal that they feared there could be a fireball or an explosion.

Firefighters received three calls at around midday and crews went to the scene, which was then taped off with a hazard warning until UK Power Networks specialists arrived.

A stretch of businesses along the high street including Superdrug and Holland & Barrett had no electricity during the afternoon as experts tried to work out what had gone wrong.

So-called “exploding pavements” – or smoking, in this case – are typically caused by electrical faults, triggered by water leaking through to exposed cables or gas coming into contact with faulty cables underground.

Smoke appears from underground

And London has seen how dangerous it can be.

Colin Wingate, 76, spent three months in a wheelchair with severe leg injuries after a pavement exploded in Harrow in 2011.

A passerby narrowly missed being hit by a huge fireball that erupted from a Pimlico pavement in 2013, and a woman was treated for burns after a blast in Blackfriars in 2016.

In May 2012, three women were injured when a cable pit blew up in Edgware Road, with one of them receiving what police described as “life-changing injuries”.

There was a surge in underground electrical fires around 10 years ago – in 2015, it was revealed there had been 80 incidents of exploding pavements in London since 2010.

A statement from UK Power Networks said: “Staff were called to Camden High Street at around 12.20pm today after a fault occurred on underground electrical equipment. The fault caused an interruption in power to 11 customers with a further 56 customers’ power isolated for safety reasons. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.”

The brigade said: “Firefighters were called to reports of smoke issuing from a manhole cover on Camden High Street. Control Officers took the first of three calls at 12pm and mobilised one fire engine to the scene.”

The problem had nothing to do with Wendy’s.