CHESHIRE Fire and Rescue Service firefighters are on foot trying to tackle a blaze which has knocked out the power in the Frodsham and Helsby area.

The grass blaze is believed to have affected a power substation transformer and a ScottishPower team has been deployed to investigate and try and put the power back on.

ScottishPower is restoring power to businesses and homes by diverting power to healthy cables, it reported on Twitter, while hoping to return power to all affected by 3.45pm at the latest.

The power outage has hit Helsby Library and St Luke's Catholic Primary School in Frodsham. Parents are being advised to collect their children as soon as possible this afternoon (Monday).

Although the location of the fire is near the railway line that runs by Frodsham and Helsby, trains are still scheduled to be running as normal.

Because of the power outage, firefighters were also called to a report of overheated furnaces at Encirc Beverages on Ash Road, Elton, at 1.50pm.

On arrival the crew discovered that, following the power cut, the plant had shut down two furnaces of molten glass at dangerously high temperatures.

Back-up generators were used to cool the furnaces.

Fire crews established a water supply and stood by as a precaution. They monitored the furnaces with a thermal imaging camera, checking for hotspots.

Power was restored at the plant and back-up generators were then no longer required to cool the furnaces.

Fire crews remained at the site for around 20 minutes to monitor the furnaces as they continued to be cooled.