Chester zoo is on fire

[KathrynOfArrogance]

And I really want to go and help the animals but I know they wouldn't let me anyway!
People are important too but the poor animals must be so so stressed!
AIBU to want them to escape :(

There is a post on FB from a visitor who saw the orangutans being led to safety, all carrying blankets

Very organised of them;! Trust they took theri I-junglefones as well;!

I'm sure they'll all be looked after well.

Oh no :-( I hope they get all the animals to safety.

it only needs a couple of fan heaters to overload the electrics.
but I agree, chester zoo is one of the better ones. so hopefully they will be able to solve this quickly.

Humid air doesn't cause electrical fires. Static discharge can cause sparks, which can ignite fires if the relative humidity is too low.

Oh no. Please please tell me no one or no animals have been hurt or worse.
I wonder how it happened. Did one of their tanks over heat.
I'm from Liverpool so not too faraway from there

I've seen this on the news, it looks to be a very big fire from the flames all coming out of the top of the dome
I really hope all the animals, staff & visitors are safe.

Agree with other posters that Chester always seems like one of the zoos that really cares for the animals & conservation.

I've known a fair few people who work at the zoo (some still currently working there) and all the animals truly mean so much to the staff, and they will be doing everything in their power to get these animals to safety and unharmed.
I hope so desperately they succeed and if they don't get them all out then it would be massively felt as a real heartache for the staff their, so they'll be working hard to keep all animals safe.

From comments from witnesses at the zoo today, it sounds like the staff all acted very very quickly & efficiently to get the public and animals to safety. I presume they have procedures in place for this kind of emergency.

The fire appears to be out!!!
The poor orangutans lost their oldest pal just last week too they must be so stressed!!
And no not ideal for crocs to be walking around chester city centre but I would actually prefer that to chargrilled croc!

Says "no human casualties"
I hope that doesn't mean....

OP, I hope they meant 'no human casualties' as they were trying to get all animals and account for them. I imagine it'd have taken longer to get all of them out compared to the humans. Hope my theory is right :(

It's lucky that it happened when the zoo was open.

Escaped reptiles would pose no threat whatsoever to the general public, within minutes of being outside of their habitat they would become cold and then within a few hours if they aren't put back into a temperature controlled environment they would die. The zoo will have empty isolation quarters for various species for vet treatment etc and also habitats in development that they will be able to very quickly get up to scratch. I know a few keepers from Chester zoo and animals that are not DWA will often have keepers within their section that are set up to keep some species at home ( the zoo also rents housing properties to some keepers within the grounds).

So it is very likely that any losses would have occured in the very short term of the fire starting. the staff have emergency training and they are all 100% dedicated to the charges in their care. The big issue will be the rebuilding, this is one of their prime exhibits and is the biggest exhibit of its type in Europe.

I just hope nobody ( human or animal) is hurt or worse.

I've just read an update, seems is all under control. We'll find out more in due course but you can be pretty sure all will be working to save the animals. The zoo is a huge place and a crocodile might have to bunk in with a shark for a bit.

I dont think chester zoo are struggling for money with the amount they charge to get in, plus looking at the amount they've spent in recent years updating and redesigning areas...

I would prefer a dead crocodile to an escaped one because I value the human life (that the croc would eat) more highly but I do hope that it doesn’t come down to a choice between the two. However, given that a croc on the loose would most likely mean someone’s child would die, I’d take chargrilled croc personally. I very much hope all are safely contained now though!

The Secret Life of the Zoo is filmed in Chester Zoo, isn't it? The staff certainly do seem to care about the animals.

As the animals in there include small creatures and insects it will be a while before they can fully confirm if there are any casualties I would imagine.

I hope they're all ok. However this reminds me of the thread about the person who's cm said they took their child to the zoo but the child had no memory of it. Can anyone remember the outcome??

Yes the secret life of the zoo is filmed at Chester
The mottershaws who originally opened the zoo (there was an itv drama about that but the name escapes me) were the first people to keep animals in large open spaces rather than cages
The zoo does cost a lot to get in but is a full day job and has so many lovely animals and attractions, including the new island, of which the monsoon habitat is part of and what was on fire

Post from Chester fire and rescue on fb would suggest it isn’t out yet (from 2 minutes ago)

*Firefighters are currently dealing with a large fire at Chester Zoo.

Crews - wearing breathing apparatus and using main jets - are currently tackling the blaze in a building on the site, which is 100m by 25m.

The fire was reported at 11.28am and there are currently 15 fire appliances in attendance at the scene.

The zoo has been evacuated and all animals are accounted for. There are no reports of any injuries at this time.

Drivers are advised to avoid the area whilst emergency services continue to work at the scene.

We will provide further updates when we can.*

Here are some pics I took in sept when I was in there :( we live about 10 miles away

Thanks @Sirzy just seen that myself
Says zoo evacuated and all animals accounted for
Gosh I hope so!

@kathrynofarrogance we live near each other, I'm 7 miles away :)

This is such an awful thing to happen! Its the best exhibition in there the poor animals must be so frightened. When we went a few weeks ago a monkey (dont know what type) was right up to the glass playing and interacting with our children was amazing too see such clever animals.

The crocodile enclosure is pretty amazing too all within the "dome" I cant quite remember but am almost sure they have free flying tropical birds in there aswell. I remember walking through big mesh fabric long strips to keep the birds in there section. If thats the case how do they evacuate birds? and get them to safety?

I honestly think some animals wont have made it I so hope am wrong