By Neil Pooran
A 69-year-old man has died after a fire at a sheltered housing complex last night (tues).
Neighbours reported seeing a badly burned man being stretchered out of the building in Thorntree Street in Leith.
Peter Moyes, 18, said he saw a man being taken to an ambulance with severe burns on his leg. He described the man’s leg as being burned black.
Four fire engines and a height appliance attended the scene after a fire alarm went off aroud 7.30pm in the complex.
On arrival, it firefighters discovered that a man was inside a first floor flat which was on fire.
A crew wearing breathing gear were sent into the flat and were able to rescue the man and remove him from the building.
Pleasant
He had suffered serious burns and was taken by ambulance to Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, where he later died.
Peter’s mother, Gill Munro, 39, saw the fire engines parked outside. Some stayed until 11pm.
She said: “At first I thought it was just a false alarm. The street has never been so busy.”
Mrs Munro said she thought the complex housed only elderly men.
She said: “They’re all lovely and they’re all very pleasant.”
Another neighbour said she saw the men from the complex being evacuated into a vehicle outside.
The fire service said they were able to extinguish the fire and stop it from spreading to other parts of the building.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
