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Interactive display damaged in museum gallery fire

Neve Gordon-Farleigh & Danny Fullbrook
BBC News, Buckinghamshire
Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Two firefighters are walking through the museum. To their left are displays but on their right a wall has been damaged by fire. There is debris on the floor and large damaged pieces of wood scattered behind them.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
A gallery which houses old telephones was damaged by the fire

A museum will remain closed for weeks after an early morning fire damaged a gallery housing an interactive display.

Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service sent 10 crews to Milton Keynes Museum in Wolverton after receiving a call at 02:14 GMT. It said it had made "steady progress" by 07:00.

In a post on social media, Milton Keynes Museum said no artefacts were damaged but interactive items in its communication gallery, which houses old telephones, were lost in the blaze.

Museum director Bill Griffiths praised the work done by the fire service and thanked the local community for support.

He said: "The Museum is at the heart of the community, and we've been buoyed by the volume of support we've received throughout the night and this morning."

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Fire engines parked behind the black timber museum building. They are parked next to an old telecom van which is blue with a large yellow phone decoration on the roof.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service sent 10 crews to battle the blaze

The fire service explained the incident was within a single-storey, timber-framed structure at the rear of the building and firefighters expected to remain at the scene throughout the day damping down.

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC An interactive element from the museum, in this case a black steel grid with spinning disks in the spaces, is laying on its side outside the museum. It is covered partly n white ash.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
The museum said interactive elements were damaged in the fire

The museum added it believed the cause of the fire was likely to be electrical but an investigation will need to take place first.

It announced it would reopen within two to three weeks.

Thames Valley Police also attended the scene.

Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC Part of the timber ceiling at the museum is blackened by fire damage.Dawid Wojtowicz/BBC
The museum director described the fire as "incredibly sad"

The museum, which has been going for 58 years, opened a new gallery space last week filled with fossilised remains, including that of an ichthyosaur sea creature, thought to be 180 million years old.

Mr Griffiths added: "It is incredibly sad to have this happen at any time, but coming so close to the launch of our new gallery is particularly upsetting."

Firefighters save MK Museum artefacts from blaze
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