Power has been restored to parts of Chandler's Ford after a large fire ripped through a shed, damaging an overhead power line in its wake.

Large plumes of black smoke billowed over Fryern Close after the blaze took hold on Wednesday.

The fire – which started in a garden shed – cut power for 51 nearby homes.

Residents were in the dark for more than two hours as firefighters tackled the blaze and SSEN worked to restore power.

According to the electricity company, workers arrived on site shortly after the fire started.

A spokesperson said: “We’d like to thank our customers for their patience as our engineers worked hard yesterday evening to get their power back on after a fire had damaged part of our overhead network.

“In situations like this, our priority is to restore our customers’ supplies as safely and as quickly as possible.

“We were able to re-route most supplies to different parts of the network, getting the power back on for 48 customers by 7.45pm.

“The remaining three properties, which were closest to the section of network which had been damaged, had their supplies restored by 12.15am this morning after the overhead line was re-erected.”

The fire service said the blaze also spread to a nearby smaller outbuilding, and crews were extinguishing the blaze until after 7pm.

A spokesperson said: “The incident is now under investigation to ascertain the cause, but the accidental fire’s most likely cause is electrical,”

Before the arrival of the emergency services, some residents decided to take action.

Jeff Hayes, 56, said: “I went to the next-door neighbour, jumped over the gate, my daughter passed my hose and I was squirting the fire.

“It was literally heading down their fence towards the houses.”