Two people were taken to hospital and eighty residents evacuated after a fire broke out at the Choice Housing building in Great Victoria Street in Belfast just after 2am.
In total eight 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 six floor premises.
Residents were evacuated to a nearby community centre
A Northern Ireland Fire & Rescue Service (NIFRS) spokesperson said
NIFRS worked alongside Northern Ireland Ambulance Service and Belfast City Council to relocate occupants to nearby community centre until the incident was dealt with.
“The incident has now been scaled down and the cause of the fire remains under investigation,” added the spokesperson.
Great Victoria Street has now reopened following a fire at a residential property.
There was a significant presence of police assisting our @NIFRSOFFICIAL and @NIAS999 colleagues.
NIFRS report that everyone was evacuated safely.#Partnership#KeepingPeopleSafe pic.twitter.com/0jTcr3QSQP
— PSNI South Belfast (@PSNIBelfastS) April 3, 2019
Great Victoria Street has now reopened following a fire at a residential property.
There was a significant presence of police assisting our @NIFRSOFFICIAL and @NIAS999 colleagues.
NIFRS report that everyone was evacuated safely.#Partnership#KeepingPeopleSafe pic.twitter.com/RXkSJ1WbGX
— PSNI Road Policing (@PSNITraffic) April 3, 2019









































