Brother and sister feared dead in farm blaze

POLICE and fire fighters were searching for an elderly brother and sister who are feared dead after a serious fire that destroyed their farmhouse yesterday.

Farmer David Miller, 65, and his 75-year-old sister Mary have not been traced, and it is feared that they may been inside their isolated two-storey farmhouse at Castlerankine Farm, Denny, when the building "pancaked" through the intensity of the blaze.

As yet, it is not known what caused the fire, though it is thought it may have started as they tried to keep warm in the bitterly cold weather.

Another local farmer raised the alarm at 3.45am after seeing flames.

Police and firefighters came to the scene, in hills around a-mile-and-a-half from Denny town centre, but police said the building was already "on fire and well ablaze" and "too dangerous for emergency services to enter".

A local farmer helped fire engines and police reach the farmhouse, by towing them up its snow-covered access track with a tractor.

One local said: "At the height of the blaze, you could see the glow from the flames for miles around.

Police were yesterday trying to establish the occupants' whereabouts, but the siblings, described by locals as reclusive people who "liked to keep themselves to themselves", had been seen at the house the previous day and it is thought likely that they would not have been able to get out because of the heavy snow around the property.

Their neighbour, Linda Keith, 53, said: "They had lived in that house for many years, and their parents were there before them. Mary was a poor soul. She was disabled.

"Davie was known as 'the farmer' but he used to gather old wrecks of cars and dabble with them.

"Mary just worked at the farm. They used to have a dairy there, and the milk lorry used to call daily, but that was years ago."

A spokesman for Central Scotland Fire and Rescue said four fire engines from Denny, Larbert, Stirling and Falkirk were sent to the scene, together with a water-carrier, because of the remoteness of the location.

The brigade's area manager, Kenny Rogers, said: "It's quite remote and the fire was well involved when we arrived and the flames were through the roof.

"It was very severe. The roof then caved in and the building pancaked on to the ground floor.

"We put out the flames, that was relatively straightforward, but we were unable to enter the building because it was too dangerous.The incident is the subject of a full joint investigation, but there are no indications yet what caused it."

A Central Scotland Police spokesman said: "Police are currently at the scene and the circumstances surrounding the fire are being investigated, although it is believed not to be suspicious."