More than 60 firefighters spent nearly four hours battling a huge blaze at a disused day centre yesterday.
Flames leapt through the roof of the premises in Aberdeen’s Mastrick area and a towering pall of smoke could be seen from across the city as the ferocious blaze reached its peak.
Police cordoned off roads and warned locals to stay inside – but people flocked from all over the city to see the drama unfold.
The air was filled with small pieces of black debris and soot, which rained down on the area surrounding the building.
Residents raised the alarm about 5.30pm, but firefighters worked late into the night to bring the blaze under control and crews were expected to stay on scene until early this morning.
The building – the Burnside Day Centre in Mastrick Drive – had been due to be demolished to make way for a new social care centre.
It was targeted by fire-raisers earlier this year, but police were unable to say last night whether the latest blaze had been started deliberately.
Within half an hour of it being reported, the fire had engulfed most of the building, and by 7pm flames could be seen burning through its roof.
When the blaze was at its peak, between 7pm and 8pm, 10 fire brigade appliances, including a height vehicle, were at the scene, along with police and ambulance support. Fire crews were sent from Anderson Drive in the city, Aberdeen Central, Dyce, Altens, Banchory, Stonehaven and Peterhead.
Fire and rescue service incident commander David Rout said: “This is a protracted incident so we will be here for a considerable length of time.
“We’ve still got a fire in the far end of the building and still got firefighters committed there with a height vehicle so we’ll be here probably until the following morning.
“It’s too early to establish a cause but an investigation will be conducted jointly between our fire investigation team and our colleagues at Police Scotland, and that will take place in daylight hours tomorrow.”
A police spokesman said: “All we can really say is that it’s early days and we don’t really know how it’s happened, but we’ll do a joint investigation with the fire service to see.
“There’s been a lot of smoke on the Lang Stracht, so we’ve put out safety messages to make sure people close their windows and, if they experience any effects, to go to hospital.”
Police closed the roads around the burning building, including Mastrick Drive, Croft Road and Croft Terrace.
Police later cordoned off the area from Mastrick Drive to Croft Place and Croft Terrace.
The building – which is close to Muirfield Nursery and Primary School – had lain empty and derelict since being set alight by vandals on February 23.
An Aberdeen City Council spokesman said: “We are assisting the emergency services with their inquiries into this incident, and assessing the implications for neighbouring city council buildings.
“The fire has not spread to neighbouring buildings but we’re assessing smoke damage. The Burnside Day Centre has been disused for several years and plans are well in hand to clear the site to create a new social care centre.”
Donside MSP Mark McDonald said: “I asked the council previously to speed up the demolition of the centre as I feared it could be targeted again, and that the structure would become unsafe as a result.
“While I accept that the council had a number of issues to address, I think this needs to be looked at again and the timetable of demolition should be brought forward from mid-June if at all possible.”
Firefighters were told to stand down about 9pm, after which most of the crews began to return to their bases.
The blaze raged right underneath the flight path used by many aircraft heading for Aberdeen International Airport, but the billowing black smoke caused no problems for pilots.
An airport spokesman said: “We have operated as normal. There has been no disruption at all.”