The fire fighter in charge of dousing the Primark blaze has told how his crew put their lives on the line to save Bank Buildings.
Fire Service area commander Aidan Jennings said “like many people, the 28 August and the four days that followed will remain with me forever”.
Speaking ahead of the anniversary on Wednesday, he said: "I can vividly recall that iconic image of the clock in Bank Buildings burning and the impact that had on our personnel working so hard to save the building.
“On a number of occasions that afternoon firefighters had to be withdrawn from within the building to prevent injury or loss of life due to escalating fire conditions and collapsing structure.
“Thankfully we were able to re-enter and establish the fire break within the protected staircases.”
The area commander has praised the “expertise, resilience and dedication of firefighters and staff right across NIFRS” on the first anniversary of the tragedy, adding that the “outpouring of kindness, generosity and public – spiritedness” helped them do their work.
“As ever the resilience of the people of Belfast was matched by the action and support they offered,” he said.
He has also praised the quick actions of Primark staff, whom he said “undoubtedly helped save lives” with their speedy evacuation.
Over 100 firefighters tackled the blaze from 14 fire appliances including six specialist rigs over four days.
“Firefighters from as far away as Armagh and Kilrea responded to the incident with both whole time and on-call personnel being brought in from other area commands,” he continued.
“Coupled with this were scores of people working and supporting this huge operation behind the scenes within our regional control centre, operations support, transport department and other support functions.
“We worked with our colleagues across other emergency services, government and public sector bodies, as well as the business community and voluntary sector to bring the incident to a conclusion and protect the safety of the public and our Firefighters.”
Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service found the cause of the blaze to be “accidental”, but have yet to make their report public despite numerous requests by Belfast Live.
They say the reason is because a Health and Safety Executive probe into the incident is ongoing.
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