A trio of quick-thinking cleaners returning from work in St Andrews raised the alarm after coming across a fire in a derelict house.
Vikki McGinnie and her colleagues Jenna McCormack and Gill Rushton were travelling home from the Fife town to Dollar when they came across the blaze in Muckhart – just over the Perth and Kinross border in Clackmannanshire.
The women alerted neighbours on either side to the blaze, helping evacuate them before fire crews arrived.
Vikki, who works for Elite Cleaning Services, told The Courier: “We were doing a project at The Scores in St Andrews getting it ready for The Open and were coming back from there.
‘The cottage went up very quickly’
“As we were driving through, my colleague thought she spotted a fire. The flames weren’t visible at first as it was quite foggy but there was smoke coming from the gutters.
“We stopped the car and got out. I went round the back and we could see it was clearly alight.
“My colleague called the fire service while we woke the neighbours up and alerted them.
Two of the cottages are quite close together, and within 20 minutes of us spotting it the cottage went up very quickly
“It was a bit of a blessing, it’s not a busy road and the neighbour on the right was very appreciative.
“Two of the cottages are quite close together, and within 20 minutes of us spotting it the cottage went up very quickly.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed crews had extinguished a fire in the roof space of the building.
They said: “We were alerted at 11.35pm on Wednesday to reports of a fire within the roof space of a derelict building on High Street, Muckhart, Clackmannanshire.
“Operations control immediately mobilised three appliances to the location and firefighters wearing breathing apparatus extinguished the fire.
“Crews left the scene after ensuring the area was made safe.”
Vikki says she was glad that locals escaped uninjured, adding: “I don’t know what caused the fire but obviously we’re just happy no one was hurt.”
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