11 April 2009

The Holiday Inn in Central Milton Keynes had to be evacuated in the early hours of this morning after a fire broke out in an office.

Six crews - about 30 firefighters - from Great Holm, Broughton, Bletchley and Newport Pagnell, were called to the 166-bedroom hotel in Saxon Gate West at 1.29am. An automatic fire alarm had been activated by a heat detector.

The fire was in a room containing computers on the third floor of the five-storey building and smoke was filtering into the corridor.

Eight firefighters wearing breathing apparatus managed to prevent it from spreading and then cleared the smoke using a PPV (Positive Pressure Ventilation) fan.

The room was badly damaged and about 30 per cent of the third floor was affected by the smoke.

Crew Manager Steve McIntosh from Great Holm Fire Station, who was the initial incident commander, said: "We were relieved when word came through that everyone in the hotel had been accounted for.

"The crews worked really hard to confine the fire to one room and to make sure smoke damage was kept to a minimum.

"We do a practice drill at the hotel every year and our procedures worked very well.

Firefighters were at the scene for about four-and-a-half hours and returned for a reinspection at 6.30am. Further reinspections are planned.

Buckinghamshire Fire & Rescue Service and Thames Valley Police are investigating the cause of the fire.