A Dundee teenager has recalled the moment she told her boyfriend to “grab his stuff and leave” as a fire took hold in a flat next door.
Emergency services were called to Cleghorn Street at around 7.30pm on Saturday after the ground-floor property when up in flames.
People in the affected block fled as “thick black smoke” filled their homes.
It is understood some residents were checked over by paramedics at the scene but no one was seriously injured.
Hallway of Dundee block ‘filled with smoke’ during fire
The flat, just off Lochee Road, has been badly damaged by the blaze – with its windows boarded up on Monday.
A smell of smoke was still hanging in the air more than 36 hours on from the incident.
Beyonte Edwards, 18, who lives in the block of flats next door, was travelling to Glasgow when her boyfriend told her the fire had broken out.
She told The Courier: “My boyfriend was home at the time and he didn’t notice it at first but his friend down the road told him to look outside.
“Apparently the hallway of our block was filled with smoke.
“That’s when he called me and said, ‘There is a fire going on right next door’.
“I told him to grab his stuff, his phone and wallet and passport, and leave.
“He went outside and said there was so much smoke he could barely see down the road.
Family ‘throwing out furniture to stop it burning’
“I was on the train to Glasgow at the time.
“I was thinking, ‘Am I going to have a home to go home to?’
“Everything that I own is here. But thankfully our flat is OK.
“Apparently the family were throwing out furniture to stop it burning.
“The police were trying to clean it up after.
“My boyfriend said most of the neighbours were outside their houses watching.
“I’ve only lived here since May, so it’s not the best welcome to the area.”
Firoz Zaveri, who lives opposite the fire-hit flat, was at work when the blaze broke out.
He said: “I work as a taxi driver so was away.
“But I was passing and I saw the ambulance.
“I saw they were boarding the windows up. I was worried because I was not sure what happened and I didn’t know if anyone was hurt.
“I don’t know the family (who live there) personally but I do recognise them.”
The cause of the fire has not been confirmed but the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has been contacted for comment.
