Diners flee restaurant fire after 'sparkler in drink ignited wall decorations'

05 February 2023 , 22:28

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Diners flee restaurant fire after 'sparkler in drink ignited wall decorations'

Dozens of diners fled for their lives when a restaurant caught fire after a sparkler ignited a decoration.

Video shows the horrified customers run out of the Italian restaurant at The Arcadian centre in Birmingham on Saturday night.

Thankfully, no one was hurt in the inferno.

Staff at the Caffe di Milano restaurant poured buckets of ice over the fire and activated the sprinklers in a bid to extinguish the flames and incredibly managed to put it out before fire services were on scene.

Footage posted on TikTok shows panicked diners rush to gather their possessions and evacuate after the decoration burst into flames.

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The restaurant's staff did an incredible job dousing the flames with ice buckets and managed to put out the fire before emergency services were on scene (karolinahojda/Tiktok)

The 13-second clip then shows the customers dash for the exit.

It's believed the blaze was lit by a sparkler in a cocktail which caught on a hanging wall decoration, BirminghamLive reports.

A spokeswoman for West Midlands Fire & Rescue Service said: "We were called at 11pm to Caffe Di Milano on Hurst Street. We sent two crews. The fire was out on arrival - the staff had managed to put the fire out before we got there.

"We made sure it was safe and completed damping down and cutting away of anything that wasn't safe. The stop came at 11.27pm."

Staff at Birmingham's Caffe Di Milano rushed to put out the flames after a sparkler in a drink caused a fire (karolinahojda/Tiktok)

It comes after a similar fire ripped through a heaving London restaurant just days before Christmas.

Mayfair Latin American spot and popular celeb hangout MNKY HSE set ablaze on December 16 after a cocktail sparkler caught on a nearby Christmas tree.

London Fire Brigade said at the time the fire, which witnesses said went up "in seven seconds", showed the danger sparklers can pose when used indoors.

Susie Beever