Five injured after blaze at flats

Lorraine Tinney • Published 9 Feb 2010 14:00

FIVE people were rushed to hospital after a horror blaze in a Greenock close last night.

One man had to be rescued from the smoke-filled staircase, while others in the tenement were led to safety by firefighters. A resident of the Hay Street block raised the alarm at around 10pm.

Alastair Nimmo, who lives on the second floor, said: "I heard a commotion and when I opened the door I smelled smoke. I couldn't see a thing.

"I couldn't breathe, I was hanging out of the living room window. My whole flat was filled with smoke.

"We were all evacuated and there was a lot of panic. The owner of the Lynedoch Bar took people in out of the cold."

The casualties were taken in three ambulances to Inverclyde Royal Hospital.

Fire bosses said there had been three incidents, one in Lynedoch Street at 7pm, the second in Hay Street at 10pm and a similar fire in Wellington Street shortly after.

Strathclyde Fire and Rescue group commander Richard Duncan, head of operations for Renfrewshire and Inverclyde, confirmed he was treating the blaze as wilful fireraising and slammed the culprits. Mr Duncan said: "We have a firestarter in the area.

"The two rubbish bins had been set on fire within the Lynedoch Street and Hay Street closes which share a common back yard.

"The second fire has caused us some concern as five casualties were removed to hospital suffering from smoke inhalation."

He said: "Because of the number of casualties, the incident is being investigated by our incident investigation section.

"We cannot rule out a link to the Wellington Street fire and we are treating all these fires as suspicious and as wilful fireraising."

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This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 09 Feb 10

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