FIRE crews from Princes Street tackled a blaze at the Buttermarket shopping centre in Ipswich today.Smoke and flames were spotted in a shop in the centre at around 3.55pm.
FIRE crews tackled a blaze at the Buttermarket shopping centre in Ipswich today.
Two crews from Princes Street and one from the service's headquarters in Colchester Road attended the scene at around 3.55pm to find smoke and flames coming from the Suffolk Glass store.
Scores of shoppers and staff were evacuated for half an hour while fire crews dealt with the incident.
Colin Roberts, centre manager, said: “It was a small fire and the first one we have had in 15 years.
“It was an electrical fault, caused by a problem with the lighting in the unit. The fire brigade were called and arrived within four minutes.
“Everyone was evacuated from the centre before the fire service arrived. We have many false alarms here over the years so the evacuation went very well.”
The store, which is situated on the ground floor and was formerly the Cheesecake Shop, only reopened last week.
Graham Blaydon, from the Buttermarket News Kiosk, said: “The fire service arrived very quickly and it was all over within minutes.”
The incident was cleared by 4.10pm.
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