Arson Attack on Cambridge YH
Just a couple of weeks after Eastbourne YH rose from the ashes of an arson attack in 2004, another hostel has received the same treatment.
On saturday evening, a fire was started in a first floor toilet at Cambridge Youth Hostel. Soon the building’s corridors were filling with smoke and about 80 panicky hostellers. Fortunately, the first of four fire engines was on the scene within three minutes of the alarm being raised. The Cambridge News describes the scene:
On arrival the first crew from Cambridge established that not everyone had been accounted for, and was met with a large crowd of about 80 people, many of whom were quite panicky.
“The crews immediately entered the building. One person had collapsed on the ground floor and was rescued by a firefighter.”
As well as freeing a woman from a bedroom with a ladder, three other people who had fled to a flat roof were helped down by firefighters. Another man found near an emergency exit was led to safety.
Apart from two people who were later taken to Addenbrooke’s Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation, there were no serious injuries to anybody involved.
Of course, there was quite a lot of damage to the hostel, but fortunately not on the scale experienced at Eastbourne. According to Duncan Simpson yesterday, it suffered mainly smoke and water damage and will be closed for at least two weeks.
Meanwhile, the BBC reports today that a 29-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the blaze.
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