Five residents rescued as blaze guts Leith flat

FIVE people were rescued and two taken to hospital after fire broke out in a tenement block in Leith early today.

Forty-two firefighters tackled the blaze in a ground-floor flat in South Sloan Street.

A man aged around 70 and a woman aged about 30 were taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary suffering from smoke inhalation.

Fire crews were called to the three-storey property at 2.38am and found the flat well alight, with heavy smoke logging throughout the block.

The fire is believed to have started in the living room of the ground-floor flat.

The 70-year-old occupant was already out in the street by the time firefighters arrived.

Five other people from the upper floors of the block were led down the stairs to safety by fire crews.

The occupant of the fire flat and a woman from the flat above were taken to hospital.

Three others – two women aged 40 and 70 and a 34-year-old man – were treated at the scene for the effects of smoke.

Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service said the living room and hallway of the ground-floor flat were extensively damaged and investigations in the cause of the blaze were under way.

Police said there were no suspicious circumstances.

Last week Leith was named as one of five hotspots for house fires in the Lothians when the the Scottish Government published a map showing the highest risk postcodes – those with more than 70 house fires last year – across the country.

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