MORE than 80 homes were left without power for around 10 hours after a suspected arson attack on an electricity substation.

A number of homes in Glenfield Close, Blackburn, had to be evacuated following safety concerns while a 20 metre cordon was put in place after the incident on yesterday afternoon.

Neighbours described seeing plumes of thick black smoke while parents were left stranded behind the cordon and unable to pick their children up from school.

Police and fire officers are now investigating the blaze which started in the roof of the single story substation while workers from Electricity North West worked into the evening to try and get the power reinstated.

Resident Nicola Campbell, 46, said she was watching television when she saw a big black cloud going past her window.

She said: "I was thinking it had gone really cloudy then realised it was smoke. I came to the door and saw the whole roof was on fire.

"I rang the fire brigade and within minutes they were here.

"I thought the fire might have started because of the heat. There was no one around at that time of day.

"It's a quiet cul-de-sac and all the kids were at school."

She said she had to ask her mum to pick her children up from school as she was unable to get past the cordon which blocked access into and out of the close for more than an hour.

Another neighbour said he had to climb over his back fence to get into his home and helped six or seven schoolchildren over to reunite them with their parents.

He said: "The mums were all here and the school kids could not get to their homes.

"They were all worried so I asked our neighbour to open her gate and then helped lift them over our back fence.

"When I first saw the fire I was thinking 'oh my God'. We thought it might have been a house on fire.

"All sorts goes through your mind. Thankfully the kids were at school and people were at work. If it would have blown it could have killed someone."

Another resident, who gave her name as Nayyar, said the response from the authorities including the fire service, Electricity North West and Great Places Housing Association, had been brilliant.

She said: "I walked past the substation just before and didn't see anything then I was in the kitchen and saw this smoke. It was getting darker and darker.

"Then I saw these really high red flames.

"I thought it was the house on the corner and I called the fire brigade. I was really scared. I was thinking about those three people that died in the house in Bolton.

"There was a little girl and she was saying 'it's happening here'. It was very worrying."

John Hughes, 41, who lives opposite the substation said he saw the smoke from his kitchen window.

"I thought something was going to go 'boom'," he said.

"The fire service were here so quickly then I was told to go behind the cordon."

A fire spokesman said two crews used three hosereel jets to extinguish it while a spokeswoman for Electricity North West said they had to remove supplies to 85 properties.