Supermarket in Birmingham, England evacuated following fire at self-service machine

Portsmouth, United Kingdom, Apr 22, 2011 : Tesco logo advertising sign outside one of its retail supermarket stores in Portsmouth city centre

A supermarket in Birmingham city centre had to be evacuated after a fire managed to break out in a self-service checkout machine.
The incident took place in a supermarket, a Tesco in New Street – located in Birmingham city centre – with a fire erupted during the lunchtime rush.
West Midlands Ambulance Service were quick to respond and sent both paramedics and a hazard team to the scene, after reports of smoke and a possible chemical incident came flooding through.
A spokesperson confirmed that there was one patient – believed to be an employee of Tesco – who was assessed and discharged accordingly.
Shortly after 12:30 midday, the West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) picked up a call from the police informing them about the situation.
The WMFS also stated that the fire was quite small, and was put out by the time a crew had actually arrived at the scene – though a small amount of people had been complaining about irritation as a result of it.
Engineers from Tesco were in attendance, but a fire spokesperson said that the reason why the fire started is still unknown.

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