Animals had to be led to safety from a Pontypridd pet shop after an electrical fire. Fire crews were called to PetWise Aquatics on the Treforest Industrial Estate just after 8am last Friday.

The blaze was quickly brought under control, but the animals were taken out to the back of the shop because of the smoke caused by the fire.

Manager Ken Thomas said: “The lamps are on a timer and were set to come on at 8am. One of the lamps in the reptile section blew and started a small fire, but it set the alarms off and the fire crews were here within minutes. We managed to keep it to one small area of the shop.

“Luckily, none of the animals were injured but we took them out of the building to the fresh air because of the smoke.”

The pet shop has birds, reptiles, fish and small animals and also caters for childrens’ parties.