Hotel evacuated after fire breaks out

More than 40 guests were evacuated from Oxford's Malmaison Hotel today after a fire broke out in a room containing electrical switch gear.

Forty firefighters arrived at the hotel, in New Road, within minutes after the alarm was raised by a receptionist shortly after 7.30am.

Incident commander Dick Bowley, based at Rewley Road, said: "Staff at the hotel dealt with the incident very professionally and evacuated about 40 guests.

"Ambulance crews were on stand-by but no-one was injured and no-one needed treatment for inhaling smoke.

"Our investigation is under way but the fire is not being treated as suspicious. The cause is not yet known and our investigation will continue."

Mr Bowley added that the extent of the smoke damage to the second floor was still being assessed.

advertisementHe added that no other shops or businesses close to the hotel, which is part of the Oxford Castle and prison redevelopment, needed to be evacuated as a result of the fire.

One guest, a woman in her 30s, said: "It was all quite calm.

"Some of the guests had to rush out in bare feet. Carluccio's were very kind and gave everyone breakfast."

A hotel burns in Plainpalais’s second fire in a week

| Fifteen people were evacuated from a burning hotel on Monday morning under heavy rainfall.
A two-star hotel located at 17, rue des Vieux-Grenadiers was in flames on Monday just before 9:00 a.m. and even the hard rain had little effect. It took 40 firemen and 14 firetrucks over an hour to put out the fire. Five ambulances and two special heart units were also on the scene, which tied up neighborhood traffic for several hours.

The Plainpalais neighborhood had another major fire in a cellar only three days ago.

The Hotel Etoile fire appears to have started in a room on the first-floor. The origin of the fire is still unknown.

The firemen pulled 15 people from the building. Most of the wounded suffered intoxication from the thick smoke. One man was burned on his arm while trying to put out the fire.

The Hotel Etoile was being used to house people undergoing methadone treatment. Temporary shelter has been found for them and the Geneva social services association, Hospice Général, sent two social workers to coordinate their special needs.

The fire started in the main electrical switch room on the second floor of the hotel on Monday morning.

While no guest rooms were affected by the blaze, all guests were evacuated from the property and moved to surrounding hotels in Oxford.

Regional operations director Mike Warren told Caterersearch the hotel would remain shut for the rest of this week.

“While there hasn’t been any damage to the front of house, the damage to the electrical supply of the hotel has meant we have had to evacuate all hotel guests.”

Malmaison Oxford is housed in a former prison and was last year ranked second in a list of the world's top 10 quirkiest places to stay.

Visitors to the Malmaison Oxford Castle can choose to stay in A Wing, C Wing or the Governor's House and can use the "House of Correction" gym.

Originally built by William the Conqueror in 1071, the prison closed in 1996