80 evacuated from apartment block fire in Belfast city centre
Two residents were taken to hospital suffering from the effects of smoke inhalation.
Last updated 3rd Apr 2019
80 residents have been safely evacuated from a fire at an apartment block in Belfast City centre.
Emergency services were called to the 6 storey building on Great Victoria Street in the early hours of Wednesday.
Eight appliances and 55 firefighters tackled the blaze which broke out on the first floor.
Two of the residents were taken to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation.
At this stage the Fire Service believes the fire may have started accidentally.
A Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) Spokesperson said:
“We received a call at 02.10am this morning to attend a fire in 97 Great Victoria Street, Belfast.
"In total 8 Fire Appliances and 55 Firefighters from Central, Cadogan, Springfield, Westland, and Lisburn were involved in tackling the blaze that started on the first floor.
"Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire using firefighting jets and searched the 6 floor premises. All 80 occupants were safely evacuated following extensive smoke spread.
"NIFRS worked alongside Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Belfast City Council to relocate occupants to nearby community centre until the incident was dealt with."
Great Victoria Street was closed for a number of hours but has now re-opened.