‘No one thought it was real’: Warwick students describe moment accommodation burnt down

Warwick students have described the moment their accommodation burnt down last week, which saw all residents evacuated from the building.

New footage shared with The Warwick Tab shows the Arthur Vick 1 block just before it was engulfed by flames last week, as a top-floor flat is seen alight through its window.

The fire on 19th November, which emergency services believe was accidental and caused by cooking, saw six fire engines and 40 firefighters deployed to control the blaze.

Aditi, a Warwick student and Arthur Vick resident, described the moment the fire started, telling The Warwick Tab that, initially, “no one thought it was real”.

Aditi said: “The [students in the] flat on the same side as the fire, but on the ground floor, [were] just in their kitchen, doing their own thing because no one thought it was real.”

Students began understanding the severity of the situation when multiple fire alarms went off continuously, with the first one reportedly going off around 20 minutes before fire services attended the scene.

At first, many students didn’t believe they needed to evacuate. Aditi said that when the first alarm went off, she and her friends left their flat, but once they started going inside, the alarm “started up again”.

The Arthur Vick resident said this happened two more times, and the final time “half of [the flat] were just not going to come out…and then we saw the room was orange”.

A spokesperson for the university confirmed all students were safely evacuated and no injuries were reported, with residents assisted in finding temporary accommodation.

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Witnesses who had been evacuated from the accommodation watched in horror as a room on the top floor was engulfed by flames. Shouts can be heard in the video, with students saying: “It’s blazing” and “guys, it’s an actual f*cking fire.”

The Arthur Vick residences after the incident, with a top flat in Block 1 damaged from the fire

West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) has reported that two flats were heavily damaged, and several more were smoke-logged. The fire services scaled down their resources once the fire was confirmed to be out, and two fire engines remained at the site overnight on a watching brief. The final crew left the site of the incident the following morning (20th November) at 7:15am.

With the service confirming the fire started in a kitchen, WMFS has reminded students about cooking safety tips. These include “making sure you don’t get distracted when you’re cooking,” and “taking pans off the heat, or turning the heat down, if you need to leave the kitchen.”

Residents have since been assisted by the Students’ Union and students from Warwick Christian Union, who provided food and hot drinks for anyone affected in the days following the incident.

Since the fire, the affected Warwick accommodation blocks have remained out of bounds, with scaffolding surrounding the perimeter; however, it is unclear how long students will remain in emergency residency or whether they will receive compensation for their damaged belongings.

A University of Warwick spokesperson said: “Following the fire in Arthur Vick Residence Block 1 on the evening of Wednesday 19th November, emergency services were called, and all students were safely evacuated with no injuries reported.

“This is an ongoing situation, and we are continuing to support affected students with a range of measures, including temporary accommodation on campus, food vouchers, practical and wellbeing support, and clothing vouchers for those most impacted.

“Students have been chaperoned to their accommodation where access was possible to collect their belongings. As always, the safety and wellbeing of our students remains our absolute priority.”