Almost a thousand people were evacuated from buildings in Surbiton during two incidents on Sunday.
Around 890 shoppers were evacuated from the Waitrose store in Claremont Road, Surbiton, after a freezer started smoking.
Earlier in the day, 20 students and staff from Hillcroft College, South Bank, Surbiton, were evacuated after a fire was started in the porch of the main building. Hillcroft is a residential women's college. The shoppers were told to leave Waitrose by staff after a freezer started smoking at 2.12pm. The smoke was brought under control with a fire extinguisher, before the fire brigade arrived.
A fire investigation team found that the incident had been caused by a defective element in the back of the freezer.
At 12.45am, someone set fire to papers which were on a trolley in the porch at Hillcroft College. The trolley and papers were destroyed and the front door and porch slightly damaged. Twenty people were evacuated.
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