{"id":102224,"date":"2026-08-12T18:51:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:51:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/102224\/"},"modified":"2026-08-12T18:51:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T18:51:16","slug":"national-grid-issues-safety-warning-after-foil-balloon-makes-contact-with-power-lines-in-tithby-sparking-field-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/102224\/","title":{"rendered":"National Grid issues safety warning after foil balloon makes contact with power lines in Tithby sparking field fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>A safety warning has been issued after a foil balloon drifted into overhead power lines sparking a field fire.<\/p>\n<p>Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service was called to Bingham Road, Tithby, shortly before 7pm on Friday (August 7), where a farmer\u2019s field was alight.<\/p>\n<p>Firefighters used hose reel jets and beaters to put out the blaze, which was believed to have been caused by a foil party balloon coming into contact with electricity cables.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1536 1531\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"0YFTQ1FDXXYRZ5XTDCKT.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.00\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/0YFTQ1FDXXYRZ5XTDCKT.jpg\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\"\/>Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.<\/p>\n<p>This contact caused sparks, which then set fire to dry vegetation in the field below.<\/p>\n<p>National Grid stated that 271 customers experienced a brief interruption to their power supply while engineers made the line safe.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1536 1531\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"J6C3TUCOI8XHJM835KBK.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.00\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/J6C3TUCOI8XHJM835KBK.jpg\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\"\/>Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.<\/p>\n<p>A National Grid spokesman said: \u201cFoil balloons are coated in a thin layer of metal, and metal conducts electricity.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen one gets caught on an overhead line, it can create a path for that electricity to travel where it shouldn&#8217;t, causing sparks. In dry conditions, near crops or farmland, that&#8217;s enough to start a fire within seconds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is why we&#8217;re asking everyone to think twice before releasing a balloon.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"rthmb\" src=\"data:image\/svg+xml,%3Csvg xmlns=\" http:=\"\" viewbox=\"0 0 1536 1531\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\" data-root=\"\/_media\/img\/\" data-path=\"PN8UPG31J1UUJYRTBL2E.jpg\" data-ar=\"1.00\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/PN8UPG31J1UUJYRTBL2E.jpg\" alt=\"Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.\"\/>Field fire in Tithby caused by a foil balloon coming into contact with overhead powerlines. Photo: National Grid.<\/p>\n<p>They added: \u201cIf you spot a balloon caught in power lines, stay well clear. Never try to retrieve it yourself. Call us on 105 and we&#8217;ll deal with it safely.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA moment&#8217;s celebration shouldn&#8217;t cost a farmer their field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A safety warning has been issued after a foil balloon drifted into overhead power lines sparking a field&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[21249],"tags":[10258,308,2580],"class_list":["post-102224","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national-grid","tag-bingham","tag-fire","tag-national-grid"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/117084047514875176","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}