Smoke in the Colonial Centre
Published: 11th November 2009
Firefighters from the City of Sydney and The Rocks responded to an automatic fire alarm call at the Colonial Centre in Phillip St late this morning. Upon arrival, they saw smoke coming out of some of the building vents. Being a high rise office building, they immediately called for more assistance, commenced an evacuation of the floors which had smoke on them, shut down the airconditioning system and started a search for any fire. The firefighters had a strong suspicion that the cause of the smoke was due an electrical malfunction. They smoke started to clear on its own and the crews used thermal imaging cameras to ensure there was no build-up or spread of fire in the ceiling and wall spaces. Nine levels of the building were evacuated, including most of the Channel Seven newsroom. The five hundred and fifty evacuees were allowed to return to the building when the firefighters declared their floors were safe.