Floodlight Fire Delays Match
A fire delayed the second half of Oxford United’s League One clash against Wigan at the Kassam Stadium on Sunday, 14th of February.
The clash, which was put back to a 4pm kick-off in order to avoid freezing weather conditions, was temporarily suspended with the game goalless at half time when everyone inside the stadium was forced to evacuate.
A fire inside one of the floodlights was the cause of the evacuation, but the issue was sorted by the fire brigade and the second half resumed at 5:45pm.
Apparently there was the sound of a loud ‘bang’ and some of the floodlights went out followed by a smell of burning.
Within minutes everyone was told to evacuate and three fire engines arrived and within a relatively short time an announcement was made that it was ‘all clear’ and safe to re-enter the ground.
The match eventually finished shortly after 6:30pm with Oxford United coming from behind to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Sam Winnall and Elliott Moore. The result sees Oxford rise to eighth while Wigan Athletic remain in the relegation zone.
An account of the incident was given by Oxford United’s boss Karl Robinson who said on a video posted on the club’s official Twitter account: “We were coming out for the second half and you could smell burning through the air vents and we were told to quickly evacuate the building.
“There was a leak up in one of the rooms, which contributes to the floodlights and that’s where the burning was coming from.
“It’s another strange scenario that has been put in front of us. It’s been a crazy, crazy 48 hours and in less than 48 hours we have another big game here on Tuesday as well.
“Good thing that everyone is safe and we can get back to a bit of normality.”
