An explosion on overhead power cables caused a fire last night, with residents all around the area reporting seeing the sky lit up.

The explosion occurred on an overhead red power cable behind Rotherhead and Station Road in Blackrod at around 9pm, with people reporting that their lights flickered in the immediate aftermath.

Fire crews from Horwich and Bolton stations were rushed to the scene to tackle the blaze.

Firefighter Dean Unsworth said: “It looks like an explosion on an overhead red cable.

“There was a bit of a surge and power was lost for maybe a second or two.

“No-one was injured and there was no damage to any other properties or anything like that, it was quite out in the open.”

Mr Unsworth confirmed that engineers from Electricity North West had been called to the scene as well.

Residents at the time reported a "huge explosion" which some social media posts even speculating it had been caused by a meteorite.

Cllr David Grant, who represents the area on the council, is one of many who was aware of the explosion and moved to reassure the community at the time that firefighters had been called.

As yet, emergency services do not know the cause of the initial explosion but the engineers are working to try and establish this.