Lawrence firefighters were responding to a blaze late this morning at Pet World, a pet shop in the Malls Shopping Center near 23rd and Louisiana streets in south-central Lawrence.

In this camera phone photo, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical personnel are responding to a blaze reported at Pet World, a pet shop in the Malls Shopping Center at 23rd and Lousiana. Michelle Smith, the store manager, said none of the animals needed to be evacuated.

Michelle Smith, store manager, said she heard a “loud boom” and moments later smoke began coming through the grates. Then a woman from Douglas County Bank, a neighboring business, called to tell her the roof was on fire, Smith said.

“We were worried about the birds because of the smoke. Birds are really sensitive to smoke,” Smith said.

However, there was no smoke build-up in the building, so none of the animals were evacuated.

Smith said the Lawrence-Douglas County Fire & Medical reponded “really quickly.”

The report of the fire was called in at 11:29 a.m. and firefighters were still at the scene during the noon hour.

For more on this story, see the 6News reports at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunflower Broadband’s channel 6 and pick up a copy of Thursday’s Journal-World.