Inquiry launched into huge blaze that destroyed homes

AN INVESTIGATION is under way after more than 70 residents were forced to flee their homes when a huge blaze at a scrapyard spread to a housing development in Dundee.

More than 50 firefighters from Tayside Fire and Rescue Service were called out to deal with the fire, which damaged 13 flats and town houses adjacent to the Henderson Kerr Waste Management yard in Paterson Street in the Hilltown area of the city.

The blaze began on Sunday night in a huge pile of scrapped cars and old skips in the scrapyard but the flames, up to ten feet high in places, quickly spread to a neighbouring block of flats and town houses in Scott Court.

The metal sheeting on the roof on the housing development, owned by the Hillcrest Housing Association, hampered efforts by firefighters to reach the burning timbers below.

At the height of the blaze more than 70 residents from a number of flats and town houses were evacuated from their homes by firefighters as they battled to quell the flames.

Michelle Lauder, 20, a mother of three, watched as the inferno ripped through her home.

She said: "I'm devastated. We've lost everything. I just had my house all decorated."

She added: "I have just had a baby and I have a ten-year-old and a seven-year-old. All my memories have gone up in flames – all my pictures of them and all their toys. My family pictures are irreplaceable."

Another resident, Jimmy Yule, 42, said: "I was sitting in my mum's and I got phone call telling me the scrapyard at the back was on fire so I just rushed home.

"By the time I got there the building was on fire and it had spread through the loft space."

Rebecca Muir, a spokeswoman for Hillcrest, said the evacuated residents had spent the night at various hotels throughout Dundee.

A total of 13 flats and town houses had been damaged in the fire.

She said: "Seven of the tenants are getting back into their properties.

"Six of the properties are too badly damaged and we have arranged temporary accommodation until something more permanent is arranged.

"It is going to take several day to assess the financial cost of the damage but it will definitely be substantial."

A spokesman for Tayside Police said: "The cause of the fire has not yet been established and a joint investigation by Tayside Police and Tayside Fire and Rescue has now been launched."

Detective Inspector Kevin McMahon said the force was investigating reports that four young boys had been spotted running from the site around the time the fire began.

He said: "I'd appeal to anybody to come forward who is aware of people who had been playing in or around that area, or heard or saw anybody run from that area at the time of the smoke and fire."