Chester Zoo evacuated as fire breaks out in Monsoon Forest habitat area

Handout photo taken with permission from the Twitter feed of @DLClough of Chester Zoo after a fire broke out in the Monsoon

The zoo said fire crews were working to control the blaze.

An update on the zoo's Facebook page said: "Visitors have been evacuated and asked to leave the zoo as teams work to bring the situation under control.

"The zoo's animal teams are working to move all animals away from the incident."

David Clough, 50, who lives across the road from the zoo, said: "We first saw signs of the fire shortly after 11.30.

" The Monsoon Forest building in the zoo's new Islands development was on fire.

"It has an inflatable roof that was burning. Lots of flames and smoke.

" We were very worried for the people and animals that would have been in the building.

"Orangutans and gibbons are our nearest neighbours there, but there are many other animals, including free-flying birds.

"It was spreading across the roof in strong winds for a while.

"Lots of fire engines arrived quickly.

"By about 30 mins ago the main flames had gone, but there's a smaller fire still burning at the southern end of the roof."