An electricity transformer exploded in Ainsworth this afternoon, Thursday, with hundreds of homes left without power.

The transformer, located just off Knowsley Road close to the Duke William pub, blew up at around 1.10pm.

The damage caused left the immediate area without power, including the pub and Christ Church Ainsworth CE Primary School.

Two fire engines were sent to the area to make the area safe and Electricity North West engineers were called to restore power as soon as possible.

The outage affected 748 properties although 589 had power restored within three minutes.

An Electricity North West spokesperson said: “Earlier today (Thursday), we received reports of a power cut in Ainsworth affecting 748 properties which was caused by a fault on the overhead network.

“We responded immediately and using our automatic restoration systems power was restored to 589 properties in less than three minutes.

"Engineers remain on site and are carrying out a permanent repair and aim to restore power to the remaining properties as quickly and as safely as possible.”

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Resident Laszlo Hammar said: “The mounted transformer has blown up, and when it went, the flames were higher than the trees.

"There were three bangs, one went off, and then around a minute later another one and then a few minutes later another one.

"I kept wondering what was wrong because we lost power, we’d had power issues before.”

Fire crews at the sceneFire crews at the scene (Image: NQ)

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Christ Church Ainsworth CE Primary School said they lost power for around an hour.

Headteacher David Gerrard said: “We had an hour where we had no power but it’s just come back on now.

"Luckily it was just after lunch, so lunches were still able to be served.

"We just sent the kids outside to play while it was getting fixed but truthfully it didn’t really affect us.”

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A spokesperson for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “At around 1.10pm today (Thursday), two fire engines from Bury and Bolton North fire stations were called to attend an incident regarding an electrical pole on Knowsley Road, Ainsworth.

“Crews arrived quickly and remain in attendance, working with Electricity North West to make the area safe.”