Police are treating a devastating fire that ripped through an abandoned Dundee care home on Saturday as suspicious.
Police Scotland confirmed on Sunday that officers remain at the former St Joseph’s Wellburn Care Home on Liff Road while they carry out inquiries in to what caused the blaze.
A massive fire engulfed the building on Saturday, completely gutting the roof.
Four appliances with firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought the blaze for around two hours.
Eye-witnesses described the scene as dramatic and said that at the height of the blaze the building was well alight with flames and smoke shooting into the sky.
Police inquiries ongoing
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “We were called to reports of a fire at a building on Liff Road, Dundee at around 3pm on Saturday, June 11.
“Officers are treating the fire as suspicious and enquiries are ongoing to establish the cause. There were no reported injuries.”
Sergeant Paul McIlravey said: “We would like to remind members of the public of the dangers of entering or being close to a dangerous building.
“Our enquiries are ongoing and I would urge any witnesses or anyone who may have information about the fire to come forward.”
A spokesman for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We received a call at 2.53pm.
“We sent four appliances at the scene. Two from Blackness Road and two from Macalpine Road.”
Black smoke and flames
Local resident Jenn MacKenzie said she spotted the flames around 3pm and dialled 999.
Jenn said: “It was so sad to see. The flames were shooting into the sky.
“There was also a huge pall of thick black smoke.
“It looks like the roof of the building has completely gone.”
She added: “There have been a few incidents at the derelict building over recent years but this time what’s happened is really bad.”
Another eyewitness described seeing a huge cloud of black smoke and flames.
He said: “Four fire engines with firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought the blaze. At the height of the blaze the building was well alight.”
Wellburn House on Liff Road had been providing care to the elderly of Dundee for more than 150 years.
The home was originally run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
The site originally contained a Georgian residential villa with walled gardens.
It was converted in the early 1800s to a Roman Catholic manse and chapel, before the site was extended throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Tragedy
In its lifetime it has served as a chapel, seminary, college, convent and eventually became a care facility, run by the Little Sisters of the Poor.
However, it was closed in May 2017 when a 94-year-old man plunged to his death from a second-floor window.
It was shut down just a few days after the tragedy and never reopened, as the building was classed as no longer being fit for purpose.
Since then, the religious group has maintained the property at a cost of around £60,000 a year.
Barratt Homes now plans to build 83 new homes on the site.
