A fire that broke out in the early hours of the morning has caused “considerable damage” to part of the Wolverhampton Wanderers football stadium.

Security officers alerted West Midlands Fire Service to the blaze at the Molineux Stadium shortly before 2am on Sunday.

The fire broke out in the Sir Jack Hayward Suite bar area and impacted a number of nearby areas in the Billy Wright Stand.

Crews from Wolverhampton, Fallings Park, Willenhall and Bilston worked for several hours to tackle the fire, eventually leaving the scene at 6.45am. Police officers were also there.

In a statement, the club said the fire had caused “considerable damage” but “thankfully, no one was hurt”.

Wolves’ facilities, safety and security director Steve Sutton thanked firefighters for their “quick and excellent work”.

He added: “It will take some days to fully assess the damage that has been caused, however it is quite significant and will take some time to repair. Any supporter packages affected for the next game will be communicated by the relevant departments over the coming days.

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“The most important thing of course, is that no one was present at the time, apart from our 24-hour security team, and no one was hurt.

“We apologise to residents in the area for the very loud alarms that went off late into the night, but hope they understand their necessity at such a critical time.”

Firefighters returned to the ground later on Sunday to check on the situation and assess the damage.

Andy Howard, watch manager at Wolverhampton fire station, said the fire was “contained to the room of origin but the bar area and part of the workspace was involved”. The rest of the floor suffered smoke damage, he said.

🚨 BREAKING: The fire that has broken out inside Molineux seems to be getting worse, Emergency services are on scene 🙏🐺😭#WWFC #TheWolfpack #Wolves pic.twitter.com/B1DSfIdq7M

Fans were quick to praise firefighters for their efforts on social media.

Supporters’ trust The Wolves 1877 Trust tweeted: “It’s safe to say that if it wasn’t for the quick response of @WestMidsFire, things at Molineux & the Billy Wright Stand would have been worse.

“The emergency services are heroes and we are sure every #WWFC fan, along with all @Wolves are fully grateful.”

Independent fan page The Wolfpack shared videos and photos from the site overnight.

Wolves had played away on Saturday, beating Brentford 2-1 at the west London club’s ground. The club’s next home game is against Norwich in the fifth round of the FA Cup on Saturday 5 February.

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