A major UK radio station was forced to drop off the air Thursday for the first time in decades after a fire alarm sparked a chaotic mass evacuation of its London studios.
BBC Radio 2 host Jeremy Vine was mid-way through his show when he broke news of the sudden emergency for the national broadcaster.
“I’ve just been told there’s a fire or a fire alarm, so I’m going to play some music,” he abruptly told his listeners.
“I apologize — this hasn’t happened in 20 years. Let’s play some music and leave the building.”
The station started blasting out Gary Numan’s “Are ‘Friends’ Electric?” as staffers fled the BBC Broadcasting House in central London.
The show was forced off the air for roughly 15 minutes — including a brief period where the airwaves were completely silent — as fire crews investigated the alarm.
“I do apologize, we had a proper fire alarm there,” Vine told listeners after the hiatus.
“It wasn’t a fire but we had the thing which I haven’t had in 20 years where not just one light goes off but two. You get the orange which means there could be a fire and then we had the full red light and announcement in the studio, which looked as if there was one.”
He noted they were canceling a planned segment on cremations in the wake of the saga.
Another show — Radio 6 Music hosted by Lauren Laverne — was also briefly impacted by the evacuation.
