SHOPPERS looked on in shock as flames leapt from a pavement in Westbury town centre on Wednesday afternoon.
The fire, which destroyed a manhole cover at the junction of Haynes Road and Warminster Road, was caused by an underground electrical fault. Firefighters were called at 2.15pm after receiving reports the pavement was on fire.
When police joined them a few minutes later the flames had died down, but 36 Southern Electric customers were without power from 3.30-6.30pm while repairs took place.
Traffic was diverted from Bratton Road until the work, which required a large hole to be dug, was completed.
Southern Electric spokesman Julian Reeves said: "The power went off from about 3.30pm when he had to take the circuit fuses out. The actual cause of the fire is not yet known. Occasionally these link boxes do fail. They are subject to a lot of vibration from the road. It was one of those things that look more dangerous than they are, but we would like to apologise for any concerns it caused."
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