Fire at Wolves' Molineux Stadium causes significant damage; fire reported to emergency services just before 2am on Sunday with firefighters tackling the blaze for several hours; nobody hurt, damage being assessed over next few days; Wolves played away and won at Brentford over the weekend
Sunday 23 January 2022 19:23, UK
Wolves' Molineux stadium suffered "considerable damage" after a fire broke out in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Security officers alerted West Midlands Fire Service to the blaze at the stadium shortly before 2am on Sunday.
The fire broke out in the Sir Jack Hayward Suite bar area and impacted a number of nearby areas in the Billy Wright Stand.
Crews from Wolverhampton, Fallings Park, Willenhall and Bilston worked for several hours to tackle the fire, eventually leaving the scene at 6.45am. Police officers were also there.
In a statement, the club said the fire had caused "considerable damage" but "thankfully, no one was hurt".
Wolves' facilities, safety and security director Steve Sutton thanked firefighters for their "quick and excellent work".
He added: "It will take some days to fully assess the damage that has been caused, however it is quite significant and will take some time to repair. Any supporter packages affected for the next game will be communicated by the relevant departments over the coming days.
"The most important thing of course, is that no one was present at the time, apart from our 24-hour security team, and no one was hurt.
"We apologise to residents in the area for the very loud alarms that went off late into the night, but hope they understand their necessity at such a critical time."
Firefighters returned to the ground later on Sunday to check on the situation and assess the damage.
Andy Howard, watch manager at Wolverhampton fire station, said the fire was "contained to the room of origin but the bar area and part of the workspace was involved". The rest of the floor suffered smoke damage, he said.
Wolves played away on Saturday, beating Brentford 2-1 in west London. Their next home game is against Norwich in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday 5 February.
