The Daily Telegraph - Saturday
Guide us by thy mobile light after candles set off alarm
A CANDLELIT carol service is the very essence of Christmas celebrations but so many were burning bright at St Albans Cathedral that they set off the fire alarm, leading to a mass evacuation.
The 1,400-strong congregation had reached the third verse of Silent Night on Thursday evening when the heat of more than 2,000 candles triggered the cathedral’s fire alarm system.
“It was rather ironic,” said The Very Rev Jo Kelly-Moore, the cathedral’s dean. “There we were singing ‘All is calm, all is bright’, when the alarm started ringing very loudly.”
The church was swiftly evacuated before two engines from Hertfordshire Fire Service arrived and the crews were able to give the all-clear.
Half an hour later the congregation were back in their seats ready to begin the service again. It was at this point that the dean hit on a bright idea.
“Of course we couldn’t light the candles again so I asked everyone if they minded using a bit of 21st century technology and get their cell phone torches out. The effect in lighting up the congregation was rather wonderful.”
She added: “We are grateful to everyone for their understanding and to the fire service for their fantastic response.”
Among those evacuated was Daisy Cooper, the Liberal Democrat MP for St Albans who had joined her constituents for the evening carol concert. She wrote on Twitter: “Beautiful Lessons and Carols at St Albans Cathedral tonight. Choristers were heavenly.
“Well done to all the stewards and local fire brigade who had to rush us all out and back in again, after an overly sensitive fire alarm went off.”
This is the first time the cathedral’s carol service, which has long been held by candlelight, has had to evacuate.
Engineers are studying the fire alarm system to work out why it was set off by the candles. One possibility is that its sensors were wrongly calibrated when a new system was installed, making the smoke detectors too sensitive.
“The important thing is that our system is safe and our evacuation procedures worked very well. People can rest assured the cathedral is safe,” said Ms Kelly-Moore. “What our engineers are trying to work out is how to stop it reacting so sensitively to our beautiful candles.”