No Smoke Alarms in Olympic Village; Fire Forces Aussies Out

Photo Courtesy: Australian Olympic Team (Twitter)

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Friday afternoon a fire broke out in the Australian building of the Olympic Village in Rio.

According to an official statement from the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), “At 4.40pm a small fire broke out in rubbish in the underground car park of Building 23 in the Olympic Village causing smoke to rise through the building.”

About 100 people were safely evacuated from the building as smoke filled the stairwells. Despite this, no fire alarm sounded. A response was only initiated by those who smelled and saw the smoke.

The AOC noted, “The fire was extinguished by the Fire Brigade and team members were allowed back into the building after about 30 minutes. An investigation is underway involving Rio 2016 and the AOC.”

Earlier this week, the Australian delegation refused to move into their Olympic housing because of safety concerns.

The Australian Olympic Team provided updates on the situation on Twitter.

There has been a small fire in the basement of the team building in the Olympic Village. All athletes and staff were evacuated and are fine

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016

The cause of the fire is unknown and we have just been let back into the building

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016

The fire brigade were quickly on the scene and the AOC's emergency management plan was put in place pic.twitter.com/NY0a0swduc

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016

All athletes were safely evacuated and are now back in the building pic.twitter.com/d5P8APqgZK

— AUS Olympic Team (@AUSOlympicTeam) July 29, 2016