Heathrow defends its response as questions grow about why a fire shut the airport for so long

LONDON (AP) — Heathrow Airport executives on Monday defended their response to a fire that shut down Europe’s busiest air hub for almost a day, after Britain's energy system operator suggested that the facility had enough electricity from other sources to keep running.

More than 1,300 flights were canceled on Friday after a fire knocked out one of the three electrical substations that supply Heathrow with power. More than 200,000 passengers had journeys disrupted, and industry experts say the chaos will cost airlines tens of millions of dollars.

The airport reopened after about 18 hours when Heathrow had reconfigured its power supply — something Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said that "required hundreds of systems to be safely powered down and then safely powered up with extensive testing."

Heathrow said that it ran a full schedule on Saturday and Sunday, with 400,000 passengers passing through on 2,500 weekend flights.

The fire's huge impact raised concern about the resilience of Britain’s energy system to accidents, natural disasters or attacks. The government has ordered an investigation into “any wider lessons to be learned on energy resilience for critical national infrastructure.”

Counterterrorism police initially led the investigation into the fire, which came as authorities across Europe gird against sabotage backed by Russia. The head of Britain’s MI6 spy agency has accused Moscow of mounting a “staggeringly reckless” sabotage campaign against allies of Ukraine, which has been trying to repel Russia's full-scale invasion for more than three years.

Police say they have found “no indication of any foul play,” and the London Fire Brigade said that it's leading the investigation, which is focused on the substation’s electrical distribution equipment.

Gareth Bacon, the transport spokesman of the opposition Conservative Party, said that "malicious actors ... will undoubtedly have taken note of this weekend’s events.”

“This episode underlines the urgent need to ensure that our critical infrastructure is safeguarded against both accidental incident and deliberate acts of sabotage by malign actors,” he said in the House of Commons.

Meanwhile, the utility company and airport executives are trading blame.

John Pettigrew, chief executive of energy-supply network National Grid, told the Financial Times that “each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow” for the airport to stay open.

“Losing a substation is a unique event — but there were two others available,” he said. “So that is a level of resilience.”

Heathrow said it had worked to reopen “as soon as safely and practically possible.”

“Hundreds of critical systems across the airport were required to be safely powered down and then safely and systematically rebooted,” the airport said in a statement. “Given Heathrow’s size and operational complexity, safely restarting operations after a disruption of this magnitude was a significant challenge.”

Heathrow CEO Thomas Woldbye is also facing questions about why he put the airport’s chief operating officer, Javier Echave, in charge of decision-making as the fire raged early Friday.

Alexander declined to back Heathrow management’s decision-making, saying, “I don’t have all the information that they had available when they made the decision.”

“Safety should always be paramount, but, as I say, it was not my decision,” she told the BBC.

A man takes a photo of the flight information display in the arrivals hall at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London, Saturday March 22, 2025, after flights resumed at the airport. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

Workers are seen as smoke rises from the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire last night, leading to the closure of the Heathrow Airport, in London, Friday March 21, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

A British Airways plane takes off as Heathrow Airport slowly resumes flights after a fire cut power to Europe's busiest airport in London, Saturday, March 22, 2025.(AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)

Passengers in the arrivals hall at Heathrow Terminal 5 in London, Saturday March 22, 2025, after flights resumed at the airport. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

People watch an Emirates plane at Heathrow Airport in London on Saturday March 22, 2025, after flights resumed at the west London airport on Friday evening. (Maja Smiejkowska/PA via AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — A crowd of protesters on each side of the abortion debate flooded a windowless Georgia Capitol hallway Wednesday with chants and signs as lawmakers held a hearing on a bill that would ban the procedure in almost all cases.

Although the bill will not go anywhere this year because a deadline has passed for consideration by both chambers, the hearing granted by the House's Republican leadership gave anti-abortion activists a chance to speak out on an issue near and dear to their constituents.

Dozens milled about and shouted words of support or disdain for the proposal. Onlookers tried to squeeze into the hearing room as sheriff's deputies guarded the area. One man raised his voice above the noise and said, “I'm so thankful that my mom gave me life” and did not “sacrifice” her children.

Each time someone left the room after testifying, they were met with cheers from those on their side of the bill.

“Tens of thousands of babies made in the image of God continue to be murdered in our state every year, all within the bounds of the current law,” said bill sponsor Rep. Emory Dunahoo, a Gillsville Republican.

The bill would make most abortions a crime from the point of fertilization, at which point one would be considered a person, and classify the procedure as a homicide. It would expand Georgia’s broad “personhood” law, which gives rights such as tax breaks and child support to unborn children. At least five states have personhood laws.

Georgia already bans abortions after finding a “detectable human heartbeat,” which can happen as early as six weeks into pregnancy, when many women still don't know they are pregnant. Still, a flurry of religious leaders said the measure doesn't go far enough.

Some religious anti-abortion individuals were among the bill's opponents, though, saying it goes too far with criminalization.

Critics say the measure would bar women from lifesaving care during birth complications and in vitro fertilization. Many voiced concern that women with miscarriages or dangerous health complications would not get the care they need.

Rep. Shea Roberts, an Atlanta Democrat, recounted her own experience getting an abortion to save her life.

“It was one of the most devastating times in my life, and doctors told me that the dream of my child was going to die either inside of me or within minutes outside my body, and it would be suffering,” Roberts said.

The bill would grant some exceptions, including in cases involving a “spontaneous miscarriage” and procedures undertaken to save a woman's life "when accompanied by reasonable steps, if available, to save the life of her unborn child.”

But opponents say doctors would be too frightened to provide such care even when necessary. They pointed to the cases — reported by ProPublica — of two women who died from delayed care tied to Georgia's abortion law after taking abortion pills.

Doctors also noted that Georgia already has some of the nation’s highest maternal mortality rates, especially for Black women. Lawmakers should focus on helping them get more care, opponents said.

Doctors also said the bill sets the stage for the criminalization of in vitro fertilization and would force fertility clinics to close. The bill comes about a month after Georgia’s House passed a bill with bipartisan support to protect the right to in vitro fertilization. That measure was sponsored by Statesboro Republican Rep. Lehman Franklin, whose wife used IVF to conceive.

Dr. Karenne Fru, who runs a fertility clinic that provides in vitro fertilization, said the bill would put her out of work.

“My whole life is doing God's work. He said go forth and procreate,” Fru said, her voice shaking. “I'm doing that. Please just let me continue to do that. I cannot go to jail because I want to help people become parents.”

Kramon is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues. Follow Kramon on X: @charlottekramon.

Anti-abortion protesters gather at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta to support a total abortion ban on Wednesday, March 26, 2025. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

Protestors gather at the Georgia Capitol for a hearing on a bill that would ban all abortion in the state on Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)

Demonstrators gather at the Georgia Capitol in Atlanta, Wednesday, March 26, 2025, to support and oppose a bill that would ban all abortion. (AP Photo/Charlotte Kramon)