Residents in Milnathort feared they would lose their homes after a fire engulfed a flat “within minutes” in the early hours of Saturday morning.
Neighbours living on the town’s Wester Loan faced a nervous 20-minute wait before firefighters arrived to extinguish the blaze.
Crews worked for nearly four hours as flames ripped through the property on the corner of Back Loan shortly after 12.30am.
A 35-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
The road remained closed on Sunday with a police cordon in place.
Four properties have also been evacuated.
Residents faced 20-minute wait for firefighters to arrive at Milnathort blaze
One man who lives nearby said he rushed to help residents evacuate their homes after his son discovered the fire.
He told The Courier: “We phoned the fire brigade at 12.35am, they never came until about 1am.
“I knocked on all the windows.
“The people who live there were quite freaked out, one lady was really upset.
“I got everybody out, we sat and we waited and waited, it seemed like an eternity.
“By the time the fire brigade got here it had went into the roof.
“It was just going up and up, it got bigger even when the fire brigade was there.”
Kris Ross, who lives in a flat connected to the destroyed property with his partner Claire McKenzie and three dogs, fears for the future of the building.
He said: “We were in bed about midnight and we could hear a bit of shouting going on.
“The next thing was the fire alarm was going off and then one of the neighbours was battering on the door saying the building was going to go on fire.
“As soon as we came out the window was gone and the flames were coming out.
“Whatever went on fire went up really quick.
“We gathered our three dogs and got out as quickly as possible.
“The fire brigade took about 20 minutes to arrive because obviously we are in Milnathort and there’s not a lot of services around here.”
‘You could feel heat from across the road’
He added: “We were kept out of the house. They opened up the Thistle Hotel until we found out what was going on and they let us sit there.
“We were lucky because we are not in the same close, we have a separate door here.
“It was about 4am we were told we could go back in.
“We were standing across the road and when we saw the roof collapse we thought, ‘This is it, we are not getting back in, the whole building is going to be condemned’.
“I think they have spoken about demolishing that end of the building.
“I’ve never seen a house on fire like that, it was just how quickly it went up, it was so fast.
“You could feel the heat from across the road.”
Another neighbour, who did not want to be named, said it was “frightening” to see the fire spread “within minutes”.
She told The Courier: “There was lots of noise and commotion outside so we looked out to see what was happening.
“It spread really quickly and within minutes it had really caught and was through the roof.”
Residents feared blaze would spread further during anxious wait
Another resident added: “I looked out the window and saw people in the street going backwards and forwards and thought, ‘What is going on here?’
“I thought it was a party.
“It started off pretty small and I thought they would have been able to contain it but then it was going through the roof.
“We started to think, ‘How far along is it going to come?’.
“There is a gap between us and that block but it was still pretty scary.”
Fire service deployed crews to blaze
A SFRS spokesperson confirmed that all persons were accounted for after the house fire.
They said: “We were called at 12.32am and mobilised six appliances, including our height appliance from Perth.
“Crews from Lochgelly, Auchtermuchty and Kinross also attended.”
Man, 35, charged
Police say a 35-year-old man has been arrested in connection with the incident.
A spokesperson said: “Around 12.35am on Saturday, 1 June, 2024, we were called to a report of a disturbance and fire at a property in Wester Loan.
“Emergency services attended and there were no reported injuries.
“Four properties have been evacuated.
“A 35-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the incident. He is due to appear at Perth Sheriff Court on Monday, 3 June, 2024.”
A Caledonia Housing Association spokesperson said: “We can confirm that there was a fire in the early hours of Saturday morning in a block of flats in Milnathort, owned by Caledonia Housing Association.
“No one was injured and all evacuated tenants are being supported and provided with alternative accommodation.
“The authorities are investigating the incident.”
