Primark Belfast fire: Northern Ireland firefighters battle huge blaze at department store

Firefighters are battling a major blaze at the Primark store in Belfast city centre.

The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service is currently in attendance at the scene.

Social media posts show huge plumes of black smoke coming from the roof of the Bank Buildings which is home to the Primark store.

Shoppers were evacuated from the branch of the clothing department store while others looked on from the street.

Flames and smoke from a major blaze which has broken out at the Primark store in Belfast city centre
PA

The blaze is on the fifth floor of the Primark building in Castle Street, the Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service confirmed.

A representative of the service has advised people to avoid the area as the incident is dealt with.

The blaze broke out on the fifth floor of the building, firefighters confirmed
PA

There are 11 fire engines at the scene.

In a statement, a spokeswoman for the NIFRS said: "NIFRS received a call at 11am today to a fire on the top floor of the Primark building - a five-storey commercial property in the Castle Street area of Belfast.

"11 appliances are in attendance. The building has been evacuated.

"The public are advised to avoid the Castle Street/Royal Avenue area whilst the incident is ongoing."

Members of the public have been advised to stay away from the area
PA

The Police Service of Northern Ireland also issued a warning to motorists to avoid the area.

A number of diversions are in place at Bridge Street, High Street, Castle Street and Queen's Street as well as Royal Avenue and North Street to allow the fire service to deal with the ongoing incident.

Police have advised drivers to seek an alternative route.

Graham Newton, who works near to the scene, said: “I was in work when I heard about it and when I saw it to be honest I was shocked.

“The flames were just starting to rise through the roof. The roof has now collapsed completely with black smoke billowing over Belfast.”

The 30-year-old, who works as a manager at a Costa Coffee, said he “can smell the smoke quite vividly”.

“It doesn’t look like it’s going to die down any time soon,” he added.

Another witness, posting on social media, said they heard “bangs” from the scene.

She said “the scenes were shocking”.

A Primark spokesperson said: ​"Our Belfast store on Castle Street was safely evacuated this morning (August 28) following a fire on the roof.

"Fire services are attending the scene and working to extinguish the fire.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT