Great Hera! National Grid's Blunder Grounded Heathrow! Was Steve Trevor Flying That Day?

Paradise Lost? Heathrow in Flames!

Greetings mortals! Your friendly neighborhood Amazonian princess here reporting on a rather… fiery situation back in March. Seems a bit of a blaze grounded Heathrow Airport leaving thousands stranded. I heard even Ares was considering taking responsibility for the chaos but no it turns out it was something far less dramatic – a failure at a National Grid electricity substation. Honestly you humans and your… electricity boxes. Sometimes I miss the simplicity of a good ol' fashioned sword fight. Did anyone have their Lasso of Truth ready when questioning National Grid? I hope so.

Man's World Man's Problems (and Electricity)

This incident as your Energy Minister Ed Miliband put it is “deeply concerning.” You don't say? Apparently this all stems from a failure to maintain the substation. Moisture got into some 'high voltage bushings,' whatever those are causing the transformer to burst into flames. Honestly sometimes I think humanity is just one spark away from reverting back to the Stone Age. Maybe I should dust off my Invisible Jet and patrol the skies just in case. I had such high hopes for this era...sigh.

National Grid: 'We Have Processes!' (But Apparently Not Good Ones)

National Grid claims they have a 'comprehensive asset inspection and maintenance program.' Well somebody needs to find that program and give it a serious upgrade! The report indicates that their controls were about as effective as Ares trying to broker peace. And they knew about elevated moisture readings back in 2018! What were they doing waiting for it to spontaneously combust? As my dear mother Hippolyta always says 'Small opportunities lead to great things but negligence leads to greater disasters.' Seems National Grid skipped the 'opportunity' part.

Ofgem to the Rescue (Maybe)

Now your energy regulator Ofgem is launching an investigation. They'll be looking to see if National Grid followed the rules and regulations. They're also commissioning an independent audit. Let’s hope this audit is more thorough than whatever inspection National Grid was patting themselves on the back for. It seems Ofgem believes the fire was “a preventable technical fault.” I could have told you that! It's like saying the sky is blue or that Steve Trevor always manages to get himself into trouble. It's just... obvious.

Systemic Failure or Just a One Off Fluke?

The big question now is: was this a one time blunder or is the whole system flawed? If it's systemic you might need more than just an audit you might need dare I say a whole new approach. Maybe even a little Amazonian wisdom! After all sometimes the old ways are the best ways. Perhaps some good old fashioned chiseling and hammering would be better than all this technology!

Lessons Learned (Hopefully)

National Grid says there are 'important lessons to be learnt.' You think? This whole fiasco raises serious questions about the resilience of Britain's infrastructure. If a little moisture can shut down Heathrow what happens when Ares *really* gets angry? Let's hope this incident leads to real change not just empty words and more bureaucratic reports. After all as I always say 'Courage isn't about being fearless it's about facing your fears and doing what's right.' In this case 'doing what's right' means fixing your electricity boxes!