Breaking: Fire at Broadgate Park

At 7pm tonight the fire alarm went off in Laurels, one of the block of flats at the University's student accommodation Broadgate Park.

The fire was caused by a tea towel left above the stove in the kitchen of Flat 9 in the building.

The flames quickly spread to the rest of the kitchen, setting it on fire.

At first, residents did not believe it was an actual fire, as Laurels has had many false fire alarms.

This meant some students did not even exit the building until smoke was seen as the fire had started to spread.

Jack Honour, a Maths student in second year and resident of Flat 4 in Laurels, said "When the fire alarm went off, we all stood at the bottom of the building because none of us thought it was serious.

Then the member of security who went to check on the flat got us all to evacuate to the Broadgate common room".

By 7:20 pm, three fire engines had arrived to put out the fire.

The fire was only contained to one room – the kitchen of Flat 9 – and this room is now left completely scarred.

Although nobody has been hurt, students in Flat 9 and Flat 12 are unable to return to their flat tonight because of the smoke and damage.

Scarring in Flat 9

It was not until 7:50 pm that students, in all flats except those affected, were allowed to re-enter the building again.

Now, students in Flat 9 have been told to collect their belongings, and are rumoured to be moving to Hazels, another set of flats in Broadgate, though this is yet to be confirmed as Broadgate security are still trying to find a place for them to stay.

Although a scary situation, students have coped well, with one person even eating a Dominos during the evacuation.

A solid coping mechanism

Visit The Nottingham Tab Instagram story for a video of the aftermath.