Watch: Couple rescued by firefighters in an overnight blaze in Lurgan describe how they were rescued from a second floor balcony

The emergency services were tasked to the blaze in William Street just after 10.30. Fire Appliances from Lurgan were tasked to the ‘well developed’ fire and three people were ‘led to safety’.

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Margie and her husband Joshua, both aged 29, live in the flat above Lurgan Fried Chicken. Their bedroom is on the third floor with their kitchen and living area below.

Margie said she had heard someone working in the hot food bar below earlier in the evening and they had gone to bed. “We are on the third floor and we are already sleeping then I smelled some smoke. Then I woke up and heard the smoke alarm in the kitchen.

"I woke up my husband and I asked him to check. He said ‘get all your documents now because there’s a fire below’,” said Margie.

"We got our stuff and we go down but we couldn’t see anything because it’s all smoke,” she said. They couldn’t leave by the front door because of all the smoke but they have access to a balcony at the back of the building. “We stayed on the second floor balcony and called the emergency services,” said Margie, adding that they came very quickly.

She said the firefighters helped them escape from the balcony. She said she couldn’t see flames but the smoke was ‘so thick we couldn’t see anything’.

Margie is still coughing but she said she was treated by staff from the NI Ambulance Service at the scene.

She said they are going to see their agent to see what arrangements can be made. “The firefighter said yesterday that it’s not safe anymore to live there so we will talk to our agent now to arrange something.

The couple, who have just lived here less than a year, said they were very scared. “We don’t have any family here so, it’s scary,” she said.

A spokesperson for the NI Fire and Rescue Service said an emergency call was received at 10.36pm on Wednesday, May 15 to William Street, Lurgan.

Two Appliances from Lurgan Fire Station and one Appliance from Portadown Fire Station attended the incident.

The spokesperson said: “Firefighters were called to reports of a fire in a four-storey non-residential building on William Street. Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus rescued three casualties from the building and extinguished the fire.

"Firefighters took readings using gas monitors and all readings were normal. The cause of the fire is believed to have been accidental. The incident was dealt with by 12.22am (Thursday 16 May) and the scene was left with PSNI.”

The NI Ambulance Service and the PSNI were also tasked to the scene.