A major fire broke out at Hertford College accommodation in the early hours of Tuesday morning, causing considerable damage to college property, and forcing the emergency evacuation of nearly 100 students.
The blaze is thought to have originated at around 4.15am in a waste bin on the public right of way between The Head of the River pub and the Geoffrey Warnock House accommodation on St Aldate’s.
The fire soon spread to the outside of Warnock House, at which stage the emergency services were alerted.
Police began evacuating students from the smoke-filled building, moving them to temporary shelter at the College’s Graduate Centre building on the other side of Folly Bridge.
By the time three fire engines arrived, the fire had broken the windows of the first and second floors.
A nearby gas main that ran under the bins was ruptured by the heat of the blaze. A specialist team from the Gas Board was called to shut off the supply immediately in order to prevent an explosion.
Students were allowed back into the building at 7.45am.
John Nixon, Incident Commander for Oxfordshire Fire Service, said that it was fortunate that the students were alerted by the building’s smoke alarms and able to evacuate the building so quickly.
He said, “this particular incident is an example of what potentially could have been a serious fire, if the county council’s Fire and Rescue Service had not attended so promptly.”
Police originally expressed suspicions that the fire had started as a result of an arson attack, but they have now ruled out the possibility of the fire being started deliberately.
Sergeant Russel Simpson from Oxford CID said, “we are now satisfied that there are no suspicious circumstances surrounding the cause of the fire at the property and that the fire was not started deliberately.
“Four student rooms have been damaged by the fire and the students have been moved to a house on Banbury Road on a temporary basis.
One fourth year who lives in the damaged accommodation said, “the police were suspicious of arson but no one saw any one hanging around” and added she believed the fire had most likely been caused by a cigarette butt that had been thrown into the waste bin before being properly extinguished.
Hertord student, Josef Sadowski alerted the emergency services after seeing that “One of the big wheely bins was on fire and the other was beginning to catch light” below his bedroom window.
He explained that by the time he had called dialed 999, his room was “thick with smoke”. He went on to stress the danger of the College’s frequent “false alarms” that mean that “people don’t always respond”, adding that we had to “make it clear that this was not a drill”.
Various members of the College authorities and the student body have praised the actions of the emergency services.
Simon Lloyd, the College Bursar, stressed how much more serious the incident could have been, and thanked the emergency services for responding so quickly. He said, “the college is grateful for the quick response of the emergency services as this incident could have been more serious”.
William Hartshorn, Hertford’s JCR president, reiterated the college’s gratitude to the emergency services and extended thanks to the members of the college who quickly raised the alarm.
He added that the JCR was working to avoid any unnecessary disruption to the student body caused by the forced relocation.
