Hunt on for fire yobs as electricity hub gutted

The power hub, located opposite St Joseph's Industrial School in Meadowmill, was set alight late on Friday night, gutting the building as firefighters tackled the blaze for around three hours.

Investigations suggest the fire was started deliberately and officers are keen to identify a man seen in the area before the blaze erupted at around 10pm.

Witnesses are being sought to help police with their enquiries.

The 100sq metre building at the entrance to Blindwells open cast mine, which had been decommissioned by Scottish Power six months ago, was gutted in the fireraising attack and left sections of the roof collapsed and heavily scorched.

Fire crews from Tranent and Musselburgh quelled the flames with high-pressure hose reels before cooling the building to enable Scottish Power workers to survey the damage caused.

Firefighters were stood down at around 2am.

A spokesperson for Scottish Power said because no power was being generated at the derelict substation, it would be unlikely that electrical components were responsible for sparking the fire.

It is not known how the building was ignited but fire investigators are confident it was deliberate.

Ward councillor Jim Gillies condemned the firebugs and said it was fortunate no-one was hurt.

"If the substation had been active it would have been terrible, but I'm also glad no-one was sleeping rough in the building (as it] would have been a tragedy.

"At this time of the year in East Lothian we sometimes get fireraisers setting fire to bales of straw, but in this case I'm just glad no-one was hurt and it wasn't more serious.

A police spokesman said: "This was a deliberate and reckless act of vandalism that has caused a considerable amount of damage.

"We would appeal to anyone who may have been in the area on Friday night, who saw or heard anything suspicious, to contact police immediately.

"Anyone else who thinks they have information that can help should also get in touch."

Anyone with information should contact Lothian and Borders Police on 0131-311 3131, or Crimestoppers in confidence and complete anonymity on 0800 555 111.

A spokesperson for Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said: "When crews arrived the building was well alight and they had to contact Scottish Power engineers because there were concerns that it was a live electrical installation which was later discovered to have been deactivated.

"There was quite a lot of oil in the transformers which made it burn for longer."