Fire on Campus

There has been a fire on campus at the Boiler House on University Road.

Warwick security had cordoned off the surrounding area and staff were evacuated from the building.

Warwick University immediately posted on the insite intranet warning of the fire at the Boiler House and advising staff and students were advised to remain indoors rather than evacuating into areas more affected by smoke.

Two fire engines attended the scene and University Road was closed to buses and other traffic.
The University’s Head of Communications, Peter Dunn, told the Boar: “A small component in one of the three CHP engines started to burn its lubricating oil.

“There was no fire at that stage but it generated a lot of smoke from the chimney. However Security attended and the fire service was called out just be sure.

“When they turned the CHP unit off a small amount of hot oil then dropped out of the unit causing a very small fire that was quickly extinguished before the fire service had even arrived.

When asked what could be done to prevent this happening in the future, Dunn responded: “We are of course examining the service record of that component and the whole CHP unit to see if there are any lessons that can be learned or whether it was simply an unpredictable failure.”