Graduate escapes flat blaze

Lothian Road closed to traffic and, left, the smoke damage to the stairwell

Firefighters were called to the scene on Lothian Road shortly after 3pm yesterday when rubbish alight on the ground floor led to the stairs in the four-storey block of flats filling with thick smoke.

Investigators said the fire may have been started deliberately and an investigation is now under way.

Resident Rachel Heathcote, 29, had come out of her flat to investigate the smell of burning but was then accidentally shut out of the property, which forced her down the stairs through acrid smoke.

Firefighters met her on the staircase and helped her to escape from the building. She was taken to the Royal Infirmary by ambulance suffering from smoke inhalation and was later discharged.

A male resident from another flat was also treated for smoke inhalation at the scene but did not attend hospital.

One of Rachel's three flatmates, Donna-Marie Foster, 33, said piles of rubbish gathering on the ground floor of the building had been an ongoing problem. She said she had complained to the city council's environmental health department and her letting agent on several occasions.

Miss Foster, a criminal appeals paralegal for Drummond Miller in Edinburgh, said: "I think part of the problem is that we had daily rubbish collections before, but they were cut back to twice a week about five to six weeks ago. We have nowhere to store our rubbish and people are just dumping it at the bottom of the stairs. We don't have a fire escape so if anything happens, we can't get out of the front door. This fire should definitely serve as a warning."

Miss Foster, who has lived in the flat for five years, added: "I was at work when someone from Lothian and Borders Police phoned to tell me that Rachel was in hospital with smoke inhalation. She's pretty shaken up and went to stay with her boyfriend after she was discharged from hospital. She said she shuffled down the stairs on her bum because she couldn't see - the smoke was quite thick."

Miss Heathcote recently finished law school at Edinburgh University and is set to start a training contract with Simpson & Marwick Solicitors in September.

Community safety manager at Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service David Lockhart said: "Had this incident happened later in the evening, we would most likely have had to deal with multiple rescues and a much more challenging scenario.

"We would urge residents living in tenement or shared properties not to leave rubbish in common areas. This can be very attractive to fire setters."Fire investigation officers will now examine the scene to establish how the rubbish came to be on fire, but at this stage we can't rule out that it may have been set deliberately."

Four firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the blaze and vented the building, which was smoke damaged. A police spokesman said Lothian Road was closed between the junction of the Western Approach Road and Bread Street to southbound traffic.