•The aim of earthing the faulted phase on the substation busbar is to establish a fault current path through FPS.•Without fault current path control the arc restrikes without interruption as long as the fault location is energised.•The proposed method provides sufficient time for a safe fault location and elimination without supply interruption.•Live measurements in case of arcing fault in real operating distribution systems are presented.•Special equipment was developed for arc testing purposes in resonant earthed systems. This paper shows that appropriate manipulation of the Faulted Phase earthing Switch within the system using resonant earthed neutral, can be used to establish a controlled path for the fault current. In this way the arc extinguishes and the fault can be safely located without interruptions to the energy supply. The proposed current path control method is confirmed with simulations and extensive field-testing.