Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
John Gillespie

Edinburgh family home targeted by deliberate fire in early hours of the morning

Edinburgh police are making enquiries into a deliberate fire in Muirhouse in the early hours of this morning.

Scottish Fire and Rescue raced to the scene at around 3.45am after they were alerted about a blaze in a block of flats on Macgill Drive in Muirhouse.

The fire was set on the stairs of the building and firefighters managed to extinguish it without anyone being injured.

READMORE: West Lothian schoolgirl left with brain injury after horrific attack by pupil

The police are now treating the fire as deliberate and are investigating the incident.

The entrance to the building is currently covered with police tape and the police are still at the scene.

Burned pieces of debris can be seen on the grass outside the flat building.

Fahima, who lives in the building, said: “I phoned the fire brigade at around quarter past three in the morning and they arrived like two or three minutes later.

“There wasn’t smoke by that point. This building has problems with fire alarms going off randomly before so I thought it might just be that. I heard that it was set deliberately."

Other residents in the neighbourhood woke up in the early hours of the morning to flashing blue lights and the sounds of sirens.

Kevin, a nearby resident, said: “I saw blue flashing lights in the early morning at around 4.30am. We only noticed because all the lights woke up my toddler.”

A police presence remains at the scene of the fire and police are urging anyone with information to get in touch at 101.

Detective Sergeant Alan Sharp said: "We were made aware of a fire at a stairwell on MacGill Drive in Edinburgh around 3.45am on Monday, 25 April.

"The fire was extinguished by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. Nobody was injured.

"The fire is being treated as deliberate and enquiries are ongoing. Anyone with information can call 101, quoting incident 0309 of 25 April."

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.