Fire in foodcourt in heart of Newmarket

Diners and shoppers have been evacuated from the Newmarket Plaza Food Hall after a fire broke in the building this afternoon.

The multi-storey building - which features a foodcourt, a variety of shops and a carpark - runs between Kent St and Teed St.

Almost 50 crew from about 10 fire engines were battling the blaze.

Kent St has been cordoned off to cars.

Assistant area commander Mike Shaw said the fire started in a kitchen in the foodcourt which is on the bottom floor of the four-level plaza.

There is a public carpark located above the kitchen.

The fire between Kent St and Teed St in Newmarket. Photo / Lane Nichols

Shaw said the fire had been contained in the kitchen and flue area of the building and he was confident it had now been extinguished.

Flames was coming out of the top of the flue when the fire started.

A number of police officers are also assisting with traffic on nearby streets.

Fire crews were now looking for any hotspots. They were also making sure no cars had been affected in the carpark area of the building.

"With the carpark above [the building] it was pretty hard to ascertain how many people were driving in there, parking and moving around," Shaw said.

"One we arrived our priority was to evacuate the building."

Shaw said there were no reported injuries at this stage.

He could not specify how many people were evacuated from the plaza but said given it was during the afternoon in the busy area of Newmarket, there were likely to have been a large number involved.

Juliette Veber was on Kent St and could see "grey billowy smoke" coming from the second story of the Newmarket Plaza foodcourt.

"I just saw smoke billowing out of the top of the carpark on top of the food court. It smells really smoky, everyone is outside watching."

One firefighter was in a cherrypicker being raised to the smoke's level, she said.

Veber could not see fire, only smoke.

A hose had been run into the foodcourt on the ground level, she said.

Josephine Rajaretnam was having lunch near the building when she saw fire engines and ambulances.

Bystanders watch the blaze. Photo / Juliette Veber

She walked past the smoking building at about 2.30pm at which point she said about 50 people were being evacuated onto Kent St.

More to come