Eyewitness have described seeing “flames shooting into the sky” after a former bingo hall caught fire in Forfar.
Emergency services were alerted to the fire at the old Pavilion bingo hall building in Queen Street, Forfar, just before 2pm on Sunday afternoon.
Daniel Tait, 24, who runs the Forfar Power Wash Company was in the area at the time and helped elderly residents nearby from their homes while the fire ripped through the old bingo building.
He said: “We saw the smoke and went to see if we could help anyone.
“Someone said that an elderly couple lived right beside it so I went to try to help them
“When they saw the extent of the fire they were completely shocked. The front of their house faces the bingo hall
“At that point the flames were shooting into the sky and you could feel the heat from the fire.
“When we went to get them there wasn’t even much smoke at that level because it was all going upwards.
“There were also slates raining down everywhere as the building burned and exploded.”
Daniel said the situation was “absolutely crazy” but he was glad he had managed to help others nearby.
Another eyewitness insisted he had never seen a fire like it.
The man, who did not wish to be named, said: “I was in Asda when I became aware of a lot of activity outside.
“When I went out there was thick black smoke everywhere.
“You could clearly see that something was on fire.
“There was also a really strong smell of burning and it was then I realised that the old bingo hall was on fire.
“There were flames shooting into the sky and there was a lot of loud bangs and crashes.
“It was actually unbelievable. I have never seen anything like it.”
The bingo hall has been closed since 2009 and the Pavillion also formerly held a picture house.
Forfar town centre had been closed off to allow the emergency services to get to the fire.
Fire appliances from both Forfar and Kirriemuir were at the scene for most of Sunday afternoon.
The eyewitness added: “People were gathering in the car park to take a look and as we watched several fire engines arrived and began t try to fight the fire.”
“Everyone was being kept away from the area and the street was completely closed off.
“You could actually also feel the heat from the flames.”
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were alerted at 1.58pm on Sunda, November 29 to reports of a fire within a commercial building on Queen Street, Forfar, Angus.
“Operations Control mobilised six fire appliances and several specialist resources and firefighters are working to extinguish the flames.
“Crews will remain in attendance for some time.”
A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We are currently in attendance at a building fire on Queen Street in Forfar along with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
“Local road closures are in place and we would ask people to avoid the area at the present time.
“Some neighbouring properties have been evacuated as a precaution while emergency services deal with the incident.”
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