[ballerturfali]

Sad news for this pet store which lost most of it's animals due to a fire. I hope they can rebuild - fire is one of the things I am always afraid of when it comes to my pets. What a heartbreaking situation

AN electrical fault has been blamed for a fire which killed hundreds of animals, birds and fish at Cramlington’s Animal Tracks pet shop on Sunday.

The store, within the Azure Garden Centre in Station Road, was destroyed as fire swept through it, leaving almost all the birds, rabbits, guinea pigs, reptiles and fish inside dead.

Partners Helen Edwards and Jason Seymour only opened the store last year, eight years after launching their first store in Ashington.

It was just two days away from reaching its second birthday when it was engulfed by flames.

Helen told the News Post Leader: “We got a call from the garden centre at 8.30am to say there had been a horrific fire.

“Nothing could have prepared us for what we saw when we got there. It was complete devastation. There was nothing left.

“The firemen were still on site, but we couldn’t go in. We were waiting to see whether we could get to any of the animals.

“A couple of the reptiles had escaped, so we rescued them.

“After three hours, they allowed us to go in. We had to rescue the fish by torch light, wading through the water.

“We lost all our birds, rabbits guinea pigs, snakes and spiders.

“Of the 1,200 to 1,500 fish, we saved maybe five per cent.

“Not counting the fish, we lost around 50 animals. More in news story: http://www.newspostleader.co.uk/news...shop-1-4617201

[dr-eavealer]

That's just horrible, one of my biggest fears too.

[HaremShaih]

Oh that's horrible
I'm petrified of fire with my pets too, even more so since the move as I'm on the second floor now. Doesn't bare thinking about really

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[bestformaldress23]

That's a shame that this could have been prevented. Those are the most heartwrenching accidents- the preventative ones. The damage is done now. i just feel aweful knowing all those animals suffered a death like that. I feel bad for the pet shop owner too. It's really devasting on both ends.

[KahiroSamo]

So sad to see something like this

[occurrini]

That is so sad! Those poor animals locked in cages had no chance. This is why smoke detectors and alarms are so important! Also, it's clear that buildings need to be inspected. This could have been prevented!

[Loolasant]

This is horrible and this is not the first time when we are seeing this kind of accident. Surely this is big accident for all pet lovers. People should be aware and must have the equipments and training to handle this kind of accident so that no one pet lover feel the pain like this time.

[KellyLynchIV]

It's heartbreaking to think that all those pets never got to find homes and died a horrible death. At least a couple of the reptiles and 5 percent of the fish made it out alive.

[Dayreive]

Something like this happened on a smaller scale to a pet store in the next town over from us. Sadly, it turned out the owner had taken off on vacation and hadn't made sure the person responsible for the shop and animals over the weekend was reliable. It was summer and the air-conditioner wasn't turned on. It was a wiring problem and the fire inspectors felt that if someone had come in the day before they would have noticed the smoking outlet.

[vRmy0Fzg]

It was a wiring problem and the fire inspectors felt that if someone had come in the day before they would have noticed the smoking outlet.

Ugh, that's even worse. It's one thing for something crazy to happen and lives to be lost. It's another when it's less of a freak accident and more of a "something that could've been prevented."

[Paiblyelaxy]

This is so sad, horrible, most didnt even had a chance to fight through it, being in locked cages and all. Fires are one of my biggest fears, can lose so much in so little time.

[vRmy0Fzg]

Oh wow, that's just crazy. So was there an alarm system that automatically called the fire department and they didn't get there soon enough to get the fire stopped? Or was it not in place and it wasn't until someone called the fire in, so they lost more because of that? It sounds like it completely engulfed the place and there was no chance at all. So horrible.