Sprinklers prevented the spread of a fire at Birmingham Hippodrome.

The theatre’s sprinklers were activated by smoke from a fire which broke out on a mezzanine floor on Saturday morning (11 October).

The water extinguished the fire before it could spread to other parts of the building.

Firefighters from Highgate attended the incident and helped staff to clear up around 5,000 litres of water from the sprinklers.

Dave Clark, from Highgate Fire Station, told local paper Express & Star: "The fire was caused by an electrical advertising hoarding which had a fault. It caused the sprinklers to activate which stopped the fire. There was some flooding throughout the theatre but they were open as normal last night.”

Commercial buildings, non-domestic and multi-occupancy premises in England and Wales are already forced to undertake a 'suitable and sufficient' fire risk assessment carried out under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005.

While the overwhelming majority of premises do this, if the assessment is thought to have been carried out to an insufficient extent, the Responsible Person can face an unlimited fine or up to two years in prison.