Major incident averted in devastating Babel bar blaze

A fire at Belfast’s Bullit Hotel destroyed a kitchen and plant room and left the building with severe smoke and water damage.

Conall Wolsey, of owners Beannchor Group, praised the fire service for responding so quickly to the blaze which was spotted on the rooftop Babel bar on Tuesday afternoon.

No-one was hurt, with all staff and guests getting out of the building safely.

Engineers will now assess the structural integrity of the building before anyone can be allowed in.

“The team has been clearing out bedrooms of guests’ possessions and returning them,” Conall Wolsey, below,  told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme.

Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service commander David Harbinson said the fire could easily have spread across rooftops of adjoining buildings creating a major incident.

“It was really down to the crews who stopped it. It originated on the top floor and once it breached through the roof the oxygen started to feed the fire,” he said.

“We deployed a number of firefighters in to confirm there were no people in the building,” he told BBC’s Good Morning Ulster.

“There are about 74 rooms in the hotel plus a large reception area and restaurant section, so we did have to deploy a serious amount of firefighters and we worked our way through the floors while also dealing with the fire at the same time.

“Trying to get the hose up to that location is a challenge. That was one plan of attack.

“The second option was to deploy our high-reach appliance.

“We have well-rehearsed plans for events like these and they worked very well for us on the day.”

Asked about the probable cause of the blaze, he said: “We are leaning towards an electrical fire but we will do a thorough investigation. We aren’t concerned as any malicious or deliberate acts.”