A FALLEN electricity cable caused a minor fire among the treetops in a North-East village.

County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service were called to Middleton-in-Teesdale, in County Durham, by a concerned resident who noticed the trees near their house were on fire.

Firefighters from the village attended the scene just after 3pm today (Wednesday, January 1), and isolated the power supply, which caused the fire to self-extinguish.

The electricity board has been informed.

It is not known was caused the cable to fall and has not yet been confirmed if the incident is connected to a power cut which has affected dozens of properties in Middleton-in-Teesdale, including the fire station, and some rural properties in Upper Teesdale, throughout the afternoon.

The power cut was thought to have been caused by a fault on the electricity network.

Northern Powergrid has sent an engineer to rectify the fault.

The power was initially expected to be restored by about 4pm, but is now thought to be closer to 7pm.

Any affected residents should visit northernpowergrid.com.