FIRE crews were called to a blaze at the University of Hertfordshire in the early hours of today (Tuesday) after students cooked a metal saucepan in a microwave.

The fire took hold in a communal kitchen of student flats at the College Lane campus.

Steve Duncan, watch commander at Hatfield Fire Station, said: “Metal saucepans don’t like microwaves, as most people know.

“The microwave was a complete write-off, as well as the pan and whatever was cooking in it.

“The units and whole kitchen was quite heat and smoke damaged, too.”

Three crews, from Hatfield, WGC, and St Albans, attended the blaze, at around midnight.

Students living in the flats had already been evacuated by the time they arrived, and no-one was injured in the incident.