Arson attack at railway station causes rush hour chaos
A HUGE fire at Nottingham railway station is being treated as arson, police have said.
Around 60 firemen tackled the blaze which started at 6.30am in a block of lavatories and spread to the main concourse and the roof.
The station was evacuated just before the morning rush hour, and the blaze caused widespread travel disruption. There were no reports of injuries.
Bryn Coleman, incident commander for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, described the conditions faced by firemen as “arduous”.
He said there was “extensive damage” to parts of the station, which recently underwent improvement work.
“There is smoke damage to the original concourse area ... and also smoke damage to the new build section,” he said. “There is also extensive fire damage to the wooden bridge area which goes across Platforms 6 and 7. It’s quite an old building – we believe it’s a listed building – and we have fire in hidden voids so the crews are currently working to expose those voids but there is significant damage to the walkways which go across the railway station.”
A British Transport Police spokesman said last night confirmed that the fire was being treated as arson.
Jo Johnson, the new transport minister, said: “There were two to three hundred passengers at the start of the rush hour who were evacuated safely and as far as we can tell nobody has been hurt in the incident. It is a devastating incident that has done substantial damage.”