Fire victims still wait to return home

Published on Wednesday 4 November 2009 08:55

DOZENS of residents who had to flee their homes in the wake of the Balmoral Bar fire are still waiting to return, more than three months after the blaze.

Firefighter Ewan Williamson was killed as he worked to tackle the ferocious fire in the bar on Dalry Road in July this year.

Police and fire investigators were called in to establish the cause of the blaze, and those investigations are still ongoing. Despite police saying in August that all work in the bar had been completed, no-one has been allowed in to carry out repairs on the premises.

This means residents of the flats above are still without water and electricity, making their properties effectively uninhabitable

Police are set to meet with residents tomorrow to discuss the problems, and said they were trying to get permission for workmen to enter the pub for repairs.

Residents who have returned to the building said nothing had been done to clear away the debris and dirt from the stairwell, while many of the flats were quite badly damaged by smoke and water.

Adam Bullen, 75, a retired French polisher who had lived in the building for more then 20 years, is among those still waiting to go home.

Since the fire, he has had to move between family, friends and hotel accommodation provided by his own insurance.

"I'm still not able to go back, and I had expected to get into the house a few months ago," he said.

"Nothing has been done to clean the stairwell, so it is still a real mess, and we are just waiting to find out how long it will be now. The police have said it is because the pub is a crime scene, so we just have to be patient, but it has been quite some time now that I've been away from my home."

Fellow resident Ewan Cowe, who was evacuated from his first-floor flat, said:

"We were led to believe that the police had finished with the pub, but then we were told it was still a crime scene and no work can be done.

"I think everyone in the stair now has their keys back, so we have access to the property, but there are no working electrics and no running water."

A police spokesman insisted they were continuing efforts which would allow residents to move back in.

He said: "We have contacted the procurator fiscal to ask that workmen be allowed into the premises to carry out repairs on the water supply, and we are waiting for their response."

The residents are among those who have backed the Evening News campaign to secure a posthumous gallantry medal for firefighter Ewan Williamson.