A woman killed after a fire engulfed a block of flats in Paisley has been named locally today.
The victim, reported to be Claire McFadyen, tragically died at the scene of the blaze which ravaged her home and neighbouring properties on Belmont Road.
Six fire appliances raced to the Gallowhill street to fight back flames but 38-year-old Claire was pronounced dead at the scene.
It's understood te mother was home alone when the fire took hold of her top-floor flat at around 10.30pm. Police Scotland say an investigation into what happened is ongoing.
Fellow residents in the eight-in-a-block building managed to flee their homes as the flames quickly spread along the roofs of neighbouring properties.
All eight homes were ablaze within one hour. Louise Gemmell lives in the building immediately behind the flats and watched the tragedy unfold.
“You just feel so helpless watching it,” she said. "You have a lassie who has lost her life. I knew Claire to see, it’s very sad. The fire went into the roof and then it spread really quickly after that.
“People were shouting across the street, it was like something out of a movie. The smoke was bellowing out everywhere and the embers of the flames were coming over the back here – it was scary.”
The blaze and subsequent blowing of the glass windows could be heard from as far away as Renfrew Road. For many, it was the sound of what they initially thought was fireworks that alerted them to the emergency or the smell of smoke.
One man who lives nearby said he looked out the window to see the area engulfed in thick black plumes after his partner thought she could smell smoke.
“I got my shoes on and ran outside. The whole street was covered in smoke,” he told the Paisley Daily Express. “I ran around the corner as a man was being wheeled out In a wheelchair.
"I could see the fire started in the first floor flat but it started to come up through the roof and within 20 minutes it started to spread and within an hour the whole block was up in flames. It’s absolutely tragic.
“I checked on my neighbours and I think everyone is still in shock.”
Another local resident, who did not want to me named, added: “It’s absolutely devastating, heartbreaking. People will have lost everything and one poor family has lost a loved one.
“We could hear the fire alarms going off for what seemed like hours. It was a constant ringing just letting us all know the building was burning. It was all the noise that woke us and, when we looked out, it was pitch black but also so bright with the flames.
“The fire had been burning for at least an hour before the fire service could access the fire hydrant. It was chaos. I think they only had one hose and it was taking them forever to get a hold of the fire.”
It took firefighters until 5am to bring the flames under control, witnesses say, while they continued to douse the building with water well into yesterday morning to prevent it reigniting.
Residents who had fled their homes in their pyjamas were also returning the following morning to the see the devastation caused first hand.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 10.37pm on Thursday, April 13 to reports of a dwelling fire Belmont Road in the Gallowhill area of Paisley. In total six fire appliances and two aerial rescue platforms were mobilised to the scene.
“Firefighters extinguished a well-developed fire that had taken hold within a first floor flat in a two-storey building. One appliance and one aerial platform remains at the scene the yesterday morning.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 10.45pm on Thursday, April 13, police were called to reports of a fire at a property on Belmont Road, Paisley. A 38-year-old woman was pronounced dead at the scene.
“Officers remain in attendance and enquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances. Anyone with information should call 101 quoting reference 3922 of April 13, 2023.”
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