France, March 21 -- Flights were diverted to airports in France, Ireland and Germany on Friday after a fire at an electricity substation in west London forced a full-day shutdown of Heathrow, Europe's busiest airport.

More than 70 firefighters tackled the blaze at the North Hyde substation in Hayes on Thursday night. The fire was brought under control in the early hours of Friday morning.

"The fire has caused a power outage affecting a large number of homes and local businesses," said Pat Goulbourne, London Fire Brigade's assistant commissioner.

National Grid UK, which oversees the country's power supply, said in a statement it was "working at speed to restore power supplies as quickly as possible".

Heathrow Airport said on Friday it ...