A workman had to run to safety after a ”malicious” fire broke out in a close in Dundee city centre on Thursday the third fire alleged to have been started deliberately in a common close in the past month.
Roofer Gordon Simpson (59) was met by firefighters on the stairwell leading to the Auld Steeple Guest House at 94 Nethergate.
They led him out to the street, where he was given oxygen before being checked over by paramedics and given the all-clear.
As with the previous two blazes the first in Garland Place, which saw more than a dozen people homeless after the block was gutted, and the other in Union Street where people were trapped in their flats it was rubbish on fire in the common close.
No one has appeared in court in connection with those two, although a 28-year-old man was arrested and charged but later released by the procurator fiscal service.
During the latest fire on Thursday, a passing fire engine was flagged down by youths who had been enjoying the sunshine on the grounds of Dundee Parish Church. Firefighters using breathing apparatus were able to douse the flames quickly at around 3.20pm, using a hosereel.
They were joined by appliances from Blackness Road and Kingsway fire stations and crews ventilated the stairwell with a fan.
Mr Simpson said he had just finished working on the roof of the building when he heard the alarm going off and, heading out, saw the close was full of smoke.
”I closed the door behind me, took a deep breath and ran down the stairs and that’s when I met the firemen coming up,” he said. ”They took me out and gave me oxygen. The paramedics checked me out but I was fine.”
Station manager Mark Crush from Blackness said the indications were that the fire had been started deliberately.
Mohammed Ali, the owner of the KwikSave convenience store next to the close, said kids are always hanging about the common close area.
”It was a good job the firefighters were passing at the time. It’s all beer cans out there in a black bin bag. We need to get a security door on there and get it locked up,” he added.
A police spokesperson confirmed: ”Police officers are to review the CCTV in an effort to trace those responsible. The fire appears to have been malicious.”