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Abandoned baby seagull rescued from fire at Belfast Primark store

Published 11:47 29 Aug 2018 BST

Updated 11:55 29 Aug 2018 BST

Anna O'Rourke

Abandoned baby seagull rescued from fire at Belfast Primark store

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"Just glad he's safe... if a little smelly."

A baby seagull narrowly escaped with his life after the fire at a Primark store in Belfast yesterday. The bird, aptly named Smokey, had been abandoned by his family a number of weeks back and was unable to fly due to a broken wing. Abandoned baby seagull rescued from fire at Belfast Primark store

He was living on a balcony at the Ann Summers store across from Primark on Castle Street in the city centre and was being cared for by staff there. A team member from Debbie Doolittle's Wild Life, a local animal rescue group, was on the way to rescue Smokey when the fire broke out. "When I arrived to get him there was an obvious danger!," they wrote on Facebook.

"I raced out onto the balcony to get it as he was fully exposed to the smoke and as he can't fly would have sadly choked to death as he had no shelter." The rescuer manage to get to Smokey and get him to safety before the building was evacuated.

Primark Belfast is on fire!!! #primark #belfast pic.twitter.com/bhWXB6oSpd
— Graham (@the_kingisdead) August 28, 2018

"The things you have to do! Just glad he's safe... if a little smelly." The fire broke out on the top floor of the building at around 11am yesterday morning and spread quickly through the rest of the structure. The Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) sent 14 appliances and 80 firefighters to tackle the blaze. The store had recently been refurbished.

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