Thirty residents had to be evacuated from a Dundee care home last night after an extractor fan caught fire.
The drama at Tullideph Care Home in Benvie Road sent smoke along several corridors and into several rooms on the ground and first floors.
Because of the risk of the smoke being inhaled, all of the home’s residents had to be moved to another part of the building.
Tullideph’s residents suffer from dementia and most of them were preparing for their evening meal at the time of the outbreak, which happened just after 5pm.
Staff immediately carried out the emergency evacuation protocol, helping those who were in bed into wheelchairs and taking them along the corridors into the safe zone. The few who could walk were also guided to safety.
Tayside Fire and Rescue arrived to find the affected area clear of residents. They isolated power to the fan and ventilated the ducting along which the smoke had spread.
Within minutes the smoke had drifted away, and they checked the rest of the building before allowing the residents to return to their rooms.
Care home manager Jasmine James said: “We practise evacuations all the time so that everyone knows what to do if something like a fire breaks out.
“When the fire alarm went off tonight we just all swung into action. I’m very proud of my staff. They all did exactly as they should and no one panicked.
“We helped the residents into the chairs and got them all into the safe zone.
“I contacted my regional manager Debbie Douglas and she came over to see that everything was OK and that the residents were fine.”
A short time later, an elderly woman was taken to hospital as a precaution after fire broke out in her kitchen.
The woman was making chips in the ground-floor flat in Charleston Drive when the pot overheated and burst into flames at about 5.35pm.