Fire at Birkirkara furniture store

The bulk of the stock at a furniture outlet in Birkirkara was saved after Civil Protection Department personnel put out a fire that started in the store, yesterday morning.

Employees at the home shop Tartaruga in Naxxar Road were having a normal day when at about 11 a.m. the lights went out on the shop floor and the offices upstairs.

"We noticed there was smoke coming from the garage where we store wood... We specialise in parquet flooring," an employee said. No one was hurt in the blaze, which was described by another employee as "a small fire with lots of smoke".

Neighbours and people who worked in the area assembled outside the shop when fire engines arrived on the scene. The firemen put out the blaze and later emptied the store of smouldering planks of wood. Enemalta personnel disconnected electricity cables in the area as a precautionary measure.

The police are investigating.