FIVE staff had to evacuate the Vodaphone store, in the Arc Shopping Centre, in Bury St Edmunds, this afternoon when smoke appeared from an electrical box.
The alarm was raised and two fire engines from the town attended the scene at 5.15pm just as the area started to get busy with people leaving off work.
Steve Simmons, the Suffolk Fire and Rescue Service’s crew commander at Bury, said that an electrial relay box at the rear of the store had overheated.
The crews used a thermal image camera to identify the source and then isolated the main power supply to make the area safe but the back office was left smoke logged and was being ventilated by staff.
Store manager Jason Clark confirmed that five people had to leave the building as the alarm was raised.
“We discovered the smoke and subsequently set the alarm off. We will be getting in an electrician to make the area safe and should be open as normal tomorrow.”
The crews left the scene at 5.45pm
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