An investigation into Exeter City Football Club after a fire at the stadium

An investigation has been launched after a fire broke out at Exeter City’s stadium, causing some damage.

Firefighters tackled the blaze at St James’ Park after smoke was seen billowing from a caravan near the end of Well Street at around 22:00 GMT on Wednesday.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue said the fire broke out in an electrical unit before spreading to a temporary building housing medical and control rooms.

By midnight, the fire was extinguished using ventilation fans to remove smoke. No injuries were reported and club bosses thanked members of the public who reported the incident.

The fire service initially sent three crews, then two more as the fire was “threatening to spread to one of the stands”.

A fire spokesman said, “Fire crews used breathing apparatus and water hoses to prevent the fire from escalating.”

Crews used a thermal imaging camera to identify hot spots and where the fire was spreading.

A company spokesman said crews had to enter the platform itself and use hydraulic tools to gain access to check if the fire had spread.

They continued: “There was a lot of smoke accumulating under the platform, but the fire damage itself was very limited in that area.”

The fire service added that an investigation is currently underway.

I’m in the corner of the far end and it’s the Adam Stanfield stand. It’s the smaller stand of the two here at St James’ Park.

I’m looking at the damage to the electrical substation behind the control room and medical room.

Fortunately, the fire went out but you can see the damage and charring to Adam Stanfield’s platform – at one point firefighters were concerned the fire would spread to the platform.

The medical room next to the large scoreboard at Exeter JCP was badly damaged, as was the control room.

These are really important parts of your match day kit. You can’t officiate a football match without a medical room and a control room as well.

This is a really essential part of the match day infrastructure. It was severely damaged by this fire.

Fortunately Exeter have an away game on Saturday because if it had been at home they wouldn’t have been able to go ahead.

An Exeter City Football Club spokesperson said: “We will be assessing the damage today and will update when we have more information.

“Thank you to the members of the public who reported the incident and to the quick response of fire crews who were able to control the fire and prevent further damage.”

The first team’s next fixture scheduled at the ground is on November 22 when Burton host Albion at lunchtime.

The club’s general manager, Clive Harrison, said he heard about the incident through social media, before receiving a call from the fire service.

“The problems we may face are largely related to the cables because the cables are outside the building and some of them have been damaged by the fire,” he said.

“There’s a lot of electrical work to look at.

“Structurally, it’s not too bad. There’s probably a lot of twisted metal, but what we’re concerned with now is connecting the cables to the control room.”

He added that the evacuation fire alarm system went off “very loudly” and could not be stopped due to damaged cables.

He continued: “I believe there were a number of residents who did not get enough sleep last night, and we apologize for that.”

“We must have an effective control room.”

He said their priority was to prepare the control room for the next home match.