A woman has told of her anger after furniture was set on fire outside her Dundee home – melting a pipe and leaving the building scorched.
Samara Gallego was at her home on Saturday night when she spotted a cloud of black smoke coming from an underpass beneath her flat.
The 35-year-old says the blaze started when furniture left below the Clepington Court block was set alight.
The underpass has been left blackened by the blaze, which was extinguished before it could spread to the building.
Furniture left outside Dundee flats ‘would take weeks to collect’
Samara claims she had previously complained to Dundee City Council about the furniture being left outside the flats, believing it posed a fire hazard.
However, she was told it would be weeks before the local authority could uplift the goods – which are understood to have been left out for collection by a neighbour.
The residential childcare worker said: “We spotted the fire very quickly because we saw the smoke rising up from below the flat just after 9.30pm, so we went down to have a look.
“That’s when we saw the fire and phoned the fire brigade.
“My worry is that if it had happened in the middle of the night we wouldn’t have noticed the smoke.”
Samara was forced to leave the flat after the fire.
She has since returned but is unable to use the bathroom after one of her pipes melted.
Water pouring out of melted pipe
She said: “Even just this morning when I was washing the dishes I could hear all the water going onto the floor because the pipe has melted.”
Samara believes the risk of a fire could have been reduced if the council had acted quicker to collect the items – claiming she and her neighbours were given a date of August 2 for the uplift.
She added: “I understand that they’re really busy, but there was a bath, a fridge, sofas, beds and everything else downstairs and we told them it was a fire hazard.
“There are people out there that set things on fire just because they want to.
“It could have been prevented.”
The council has since removed the furniture but only after the fire had taken place.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 10.40pm on Saturday, we were called to a report of a fire in the Clepington Court area of Dundee.
“There were no reported injuries.
“Inquiries are ongoing.”
A Dundee City Council spokesperson did not address the uplift complaint, but said: “We would encourage anyone with information to contact Police Scotland.”
