Seven rescued as blaze takes hold in flats basement

SEVEN people had to be rescued from their homes after a blaze in a tenement basement in the city last night.

Around 35 firefighters were called to South Clerk Street in Newington after a fire took hold of two basement storage rooms in a five-storey block around 7.50pm.

Police cordoned off several hundred yards of the main road while firefighters wearing breathing apparatus rushed into the building.

They led seven occupants to safety as dozens of residents and passers-by looked on, some holding scarfs to their faces as smoke poured across the street.

Firefighters also removed canisters, thought to contain gas, from the basement.

Before the crews arrived smoke had spread from the basement into the upper floors forcing three residents to run through the smoke-filled communal stair to escape the fire.

One of them, psychologist Sarah Drysdale, 22, said: "I heard a scream from the hall from one of my flatmates and found there was smoke coming through the door.

"I knocked on my flatmate's door to check she was out then the remaining three of us ran down the stairs through the block to get out. It was thick with smoke and you could hardly see anything. At the bottom you could see the flames from below. We all got out OK."

Eyewitness student Catherine Adley, 21, added: "There were firemen on the ladders banging on the windows of the upper floors and shouting inside to see if anyone was left. Everyone must have got out in time because they didn't have to bring anyone down."

Marc Fargett, 22, was in the Ale House next door to the tenement when the fire broke out.

He said: "I was in the bar using the internet and it suddenly went off. Then I smelled smoke. It was billowing into the street and was coming out of the 2nd floor window."

Mike Partington, Tollcross station commander, said the blaze started in the basement and spread into two storage rooms. It took around an hour and three attempts to bring the fire under control.

He said: "We rescued seven people and three got out before we arrived. No one was injured.

"The origin of the fire was in the basement of the common property where rubbish and wood which had been stored.

"There is smoke damage throughout the building and the basement is completely burnt out."

n Meanwhile a man and a woman were taken to hospital after another blaze in a city flat last night.

The fire started in the bedroom of a flat in Grierson Crescent at around 11.15pm. The cause of the fire is thought to be electrical.

Five adults were led to safety by firefighters. Two of them - a 57-year-old man and a 69-year-old woman - were given oxygen at the scene. They were both taken to the ERI suffering from smoke inhalation.

Firefighters rescued a dog which also received oxygen.