A fire incident broke out in a kitchen of Staircase 20 at St Catherine’s College at around 19:45 this evening.
Thick smoke was coming from the top floor of the staircase, with the situation having been subdued within five minutes of the fire service’s arrival at the scene.
Three staircases have been fully evacuated and no one is believed to have been injured.
JCR President Sarah White posted on the JCR’s Facebook page to explain the arrival of the three fire engines, stating that three “is a standard number to send when there are so many people living in such a small area”.
It is hoped that the residents of the staircase directly concerned will be allowed to re-enter their rooms later this evening following further ventilation of the staircase, while those in the neighbouring two were allowed back to their rooms once the fire had been extinguished. 20 undergraduates live in the staircase directly affected, while 60 live in the building as a whole.
It is thought that a broken toaster was the cause of the fire.
A second-year resident of Staircase 20 gave Cherwell the following statement: “I was in my room with some friends and we heard the fire bell go off. We took several minutes finishing our conversation as we assumed it would stop pretty soon- it usually does. Then one of my friends left the room to check the kitchen and came running back in and said ‘guys there’s literally smoke everywhere’.
“We ran into the corridor and the kitchen was full of thick smoke- you couldn’t see through it, and despite being on the other side of a glass door, smoke was already getting into the corridor. There was a very strong smell of burning. We ran outside where everyone was gathered in the car park. I ran to the Porter’s who immediately rang the fire brigade. A few minutes later they arrived and entered the building, very quickly putting out the smoke.
“I was pretty shaken as I realised that everything of value that I owned was in the room on the other side of the kitchen and that could well have set me pretty far back in my degree had the fire brigade arrived too late.”
The students affected continue to wait in the College’s JCR bar area for further instruction.
