The incident happened on Wednesday morning at 5:11am when vandals broke their way through locked doors and caused a fire at a substation on Kent Street, Preston.

Engineers at Electricity North West, the power network operator, say the culprits risked their lives in a failed attempt to steal electrical equipment leading to £30,000 worth of damage as well as a power cut which affected 1,149 customers.

Working alongside the local fire service, Electricity North West engineers restored power to 1,000 customers at 7:44am and by 12:30pm, all customers were restored. Lancashire Police has been made aware of the incident.

Martin Deehan, operations director at Electricity North West, said: “Firstly, I want to thank local residents and businesses in the area for their understanding and co-operation during this disruption.

“This incident is very serious. A huge amount of damage has been caused to the substation, and the culprits who entered cheated death. I’d be amazed if they left the scene unharmed.

“There is a reason we have yellow ‘danger of death signs’ in and around the electricity network. People must take note of these and stay away.”

As well as having a number of teams on site throughout the day, Electricity North West engineers worked through the night and the early hours of Thursday morning to ensure a full repair was made to the substation.

Anybody with any information is now being urged to contact Lancashire Police.

A spokesperson for Lancashire Police added: “We are appealing for information after thieves caused damage to an electricity substation.

“Police were called around 5.40am on Wednesday (October 23) to reports of a burglary and fire at an electricity substation on Kent Street, Preston.

“Attempts have been made to steal some copper wiring, which caused a fire. No arrests have been made.

“Anyone with information can call 101 quoting log 0162 of October 23.”