“Considerable damage” has been caused to Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Molineux stadium after a fire broke out in the early hours.
Smoke could be seen coming from the football ground as 20 firefighters were called to the scene by a member of the club’s security team shortly before 2am on Sunday.
The blaze started in the Sir Jack Hayward Suite bar area and spread to other nearby areas in the Billy Wright Stand, the club said.
No one was hurt in the fire, which was out by 3.40am.
West Midlands Fire Service said in a statement: “At 1.56am this morning we responded to a fire at The Molineux Stadium, Wolverhampton.
“The first of four fire crews and 20 firefighters arrived two minutes after being mobilised. We contained the fire to a conference suite bar area. It was out by 3.40am.”
It is believed the fire may have started in an electrical appliance.
Wolves issued a statement saying “considerable damage” had been caused by a fire “impacting a hospitality suite and a number of adjacent areas in the Billy Wright Stand”.
The club’s facilities, safety and security director Steve Sutton warned fans could be affected for the next home game.
He said: “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.”
Andy Howard, watch manager at Wolverhampton fire station, added: “There’s been a fire in the bar area. It was contained to the room of origin but the bar area and part of the workspace was involved in fire. Otherwise it was just smoke damage to the rest of the floor.”
Police officers were also sent to the scene but paramedics were not needed.
Firefighters left the scene at 6.45am, before coming back to Molineux later in the morning to check on the situation and assess the damage.
