Fire at Castle Quay shopping centre

Crews from Oxfordshire County Council Fire & Rescue Service were called just after 1:10pm 8 January 2012 to a fire at an electrical transformer within the centre’s main power hub.

Security staff were alerted by the fire detection system in the building and backed up the automatic call to the Fire and Rescue Service with a ‘999’ call.

Two fire appliances from Banbury fire station were sent and 10 firefighters were involved. Fire crews wearing breathing apparatus tackled the fire using compressed carbon dioxide extinguishers as the fire involved electrical switchgear at a high voltage. The fire was brought under control by around half past one.

Station Manager Chris Wilson said, "On arrival, the fire was discovered in an underground section of the switch room and involved some very high voltage cabling, fortunately our prompt response meant that we were able to extinguish the fire quickly and allow specialist electrical engineers to isolate and repair the affected cabling. This meant minimum disruption to the traders in the centre and the shopping public”

The cause of the fire is not yet known and the electrical supply engineers are trying to establish the exact cause.