Pools open - but rest of NSC still closed following fire

Conduct of staff "exemplary" says eye witness

The pools at the NSC will open as usual this morning, following a fire at the facility yesterday (Wed)

It happened in the men's gym changing room.

Whilst it was quickly extinguished and no one was hurt, the centre was shut for the rest of the day and an investigation into the blaze was launched.

The pools are open again as normal today (Thurs), but other facilities including  the sports halls, squash, bowls hall and fitness zone remain closed until further notice. Further information is expected later today.

Fire services say they were called just before 5.40pm and found the fire in a locker room.

Fire crews in breathing apparatus quickly entered the area to tackle the fire. Four officers wearing breathing apparatus used thermal imaging cameras and hose reels to locate and extinguish the blaze and positive  pressure ventilation was used to clear smoke from the area.

Three appliances which attended from Douglas Station attended the incident.

Its stated that fire damage was "severe" in the locker room with smoke damage to surrounding area, and the cause of the fire is being looked into.

This eyewitness was in the NSC at the time and says the way staff handled the incident was exemplary