Telford university campus evacuated after fire in substation causes power cut
A Telford university campus was evacuated after a fire broke out on site and caused a power cut which also left over 2,300 homes without electricity.
The University of Wolverhampton's Telford Innovation Campus in Priorslee was evacuated today following a fire in an electrical substation on the site.
The fire has resulted in loss of power on site and to homes in the area.
Western Power Distribution, which owns the substation, has been sent to the site to reinstate supplies.
It was estimated it will be a number of hours before power can be restored at the campus itself so the university has decided to close it for the rest of the day.
Staff were advised to work from alternative locations.
Residential students and conference guests will remain on site and alternative arrangements will be made for them.
Two fire engines were sent from Telford Station to the campus at about 11.45am.
Louise Birkett, spokeswoman for Western Power Distribution, said: "There was a failing in the Priorslee area which affected 2,365 properties.
"We managed to restore 2,083 of those within an hour, the remaining customers where restored after an hour and 14 minutes.
"The one the was not restored is the university, the reason for that is there was a fire and engineers are waiting for that to be resolved.
"The fire seemed to be something that happened at the same time. Until it's investigated, we don't know what happened.
"Our engineers are standing by, sorry for any inconvenience."
