They pumped it out, after it was flooded by December's storm surge. So it seemed only appropriate that when Hunstanton Sea Life Sanctuary was ready to refill its giant tanks, they'd come back and do the honours.

Retained firefighters from the resort's fire station helped supply one of the most vital ingredients, in the shape of hundreds of thousands of litres of water, as staff put the finishing touches to tanks at the seafront attraction.

More than 2,500 sharks, fish and sea creatures will soon begin returning, in readiness for the centre's re-opening on October 16 after a £3m refurb.

First task for the 12-strong fire crew were the seal and paku tanks, which took 70,000L - around the equivalent of four milk tankers - to fill. Firefighters then turned their hose on the ray tank, for what their crew manager said was a useful training exercisse.

Nigel Croasdale, general manager at the sanctuary, said: 'It's fantastic to finally see our sanctuary come back to life again. The past 10 months have been long and we have been working hard to ensure the safe return of our wonderful creatures. We were thrilled that the Fire Service have helped us again, seeing as they were the ones that came to our rescue in the first place.'

Rigil Kent, officer in charge at Hunstanton fire station, said: 'We were really glad to help fill the tanks ready for the creatures. We helped the Sanctuary last December by pumping out thousands of litres of flood water during the tidal surge and we were only too glad to return to help them fill up their displays again by pumping water back in. We're well equipped to transfer that amount of water safely and, although it took a while, the tank is now ready for the new arrivals. We took this as an opportunity to enhance our training at a venue that provided a variety of challenges for the crew.'