By Gary Cooper

A LARGE part of Kirriemuir town centre remained sealed-off this morning after a fierce blaze forced a major evacuation.

Police and firefighters helped residents to flee their homes at the height of yesterday’s blaze which tore through Glengate Garage, before setting up a 24-hour exclusion zone after potentially explosive gas cylinders were discovered.

An emergency rest centre was opened at the town’s Webster’s High School to provide overnight accommodation for those made homeless by the inferno.

Flames shot 30 feet into the sky and a huge pall of smoke hung over Kirriemuir as the fire gutted the garage, which is next door to the town’s part-time fire station on Glengate.

It is understood that two employees, named locally as mechanic Davie MacDonald and panel beater Duncan Wood, were in the garage when the fire broke out in the cab of a Ford Transit pick-up being worked on.

The pair heroically attempted to fight the flames but were beaten back when it quickly spread out of control.

Charlie Geddes, a motor parts delivery driver, was making a drop shortly after 1pm—just as the fire started.

“I heard shouting and saw the two guys getting the fire extinguishers, but there wasn’t a lot they could do,” the Arbroath-based driver said.

Mr Geddes moved his van clear of the garage before sprinting back to help the employees move a breakdown truck and a quad bike away from danger.

On his return, Mr Geddes saw Mr MacDonald lying on the road opposite the garage.

He had last been seen heading into the burning building to get some keys.

“I don’t know if he had been overcome by smoke or knocked over by an explosion or something,” Mr Geddes continued.

Mr MacDonald was moved down the road and given oxygen by mercy crews before making his own way to an ambulance to be taken to Ninewells Hospital with what were described as slight injuries.

Firefighters from the town, alerted by one of the employees, rigged up hoses from hydrants in the fire-station compound to fight the blaze.

They were joined by units from Forfar and Alyth, with a unit and aerial ladder from Dundee.

Station manager Graeme Brown said all that remained of the garage was a burned-out shell.

“The fire personnel here were faced with what was an extremely difficult and hazardous situation,” he said.

He said there were numerous explosions at the garage during the fire- fighting operation.

The fire officer said the blaze was confined to the garage and there was no damage to the fire station.

A house on the other side of the garage was also saved by firefighters and was said to have suffered slight smoke damage.

Mr Brown told how it was mentioned initially there were cylinders involved in the incident, but the type was unknown.

“We later found out it was acetylene, so the concern for us was the evacuation of the whole area,” he said.

The cylinders are being cooled for 24 hours to make them safe before anyone can venture back to their homes inside the 100-metre exclusion zone.

Even the fire service was not immune from the lock-down of the town centre, as the Kirriemuir appliances had to be relocated outwith the cordon to remain active as the station was ruled out of bounds.

Police officers from across Tayside were drafted in to maintain the exclusion zone.

Superintendent Ewen West, speaking shortly after the flames were quelled, said, “Although the fire is under control, an oxy-acetylene cylinder was found in the garage and is giving cause for concern in terms of potential explosion.”

Police believe around 80 households were affected in streets including Glengate, Gordon Park, Park Place and Whiteside.

Many were said to have opted to stay with friends and relatives during the exclusion period.

Mr West said the cause of the fire is being investigated by police and fire personnel.

Shattered garage boss Jim Campbell, who had been away collecting a car at the time the blaze started, returned to an unimaginable scene.

“I have been here since 1982 and it’s burnt to a cinder,” he said.

“I don’t know what happened, what caused it. Thankfully no one is hurt.”

Emergency services were faced with pollution worries last night after the run-off of contaminated water from the fire began to seep into the Gairie Burn.