A town council meeting became a scene of unexpected drama when two men burst through the doors and told the mayor his shop was on fire.
The interruption at last night's Attleborough Town Council meeting came after four crews of firefighters were sent to Tony Perkins butchers on Church Street after a fire from a suspected electrical fault sent smoke into the flat above.
No-one was reported hurt in the incident, which firefighters said caused 'considerable damage' to the business, and smoke damage to the flat.
Mr Perkins, who also has butcher shops in Dereham and Mattishall, said: 'We were going through our business on the agenda as normal and a couple of people came running in and said 'Tony, you have got to come quick, your shop is on fire'.
'I had to down tools and come running. I thought they were joking at the time, but then you saw the blue lights.'
Bernardo Munes, 51, and Teresa Frankowska, 57, were inside the flat above the shop when Ms Frankowska noticed smoke coming in. Both managed to get out of the flat safely.
Startled town residents gathered in the church yard opposite the shop, and offered any help they could give Mr Perkins, who said the fire had started in a space between the suspended ceiling of the shop and the floor upstairs.
Peter Rowe, station manager at Sprowston, said the exact cause of the fire was unknown, and would be investigated today.
He added: 'There has been a small contained fire between the commercial property downstairs and the rented property above. It has caused considerable damage to the business.'
He confirmed no-one was injured, and said the firefighters had spent 10 to 15 minutes wearing breathing apparatus and fighting the fire, and a further 30 to 40 minutes investigating the cause and damping down.
He added: 'Other than the disruption and the event in a quite a small market town, I don't think the fire itself was particularly significant. I hope we can return to normality as soon as possible.'
Did you see the fire? Email stuart.anderson@archant.co.uk
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