A man has told of how black smoke “hit him in the face” after a blaze which left ten in hospital broke out at a block of flats in Edinburgh.
Emergency services were called to the three-storey building at Niddrie Mill Crescent at around 6.35pm on Wednesday.
Residents were treated at the scene by ambulance crews, and ten people were then transferred to the Royal Infirmary Edinburgh.
John Hill, who didn’t need hospital treatment, has told how he went to check on the ground floor flat after hearing shouting, only to be faced with billowing smoke.
“I was sitting there, getting ready to go out and I heard the chap below shouting and screaming to his partner and for his kids to jump down”, he told STV news.
“I wondered what it was, so I went down to see if everything was alright. I opened the door and couldn’t see a thing. Black smoke just hit us right in the face.”
John struggled to the bottom of the stairwell, with his hand on the bannister and jacket over his face.
He said: “I didn’t know what was going on, I didn’t know to go to my balcony or down the stair but I just knew I better get out on the street incase the fire kept coming up.
STV News“So I tried to run down, but I couldn’t see the stairs. I tripped up, so was on the stair and holding onto the bannister, and I just kept on it all the way down and kept my jacket on my face.
“I was coughing but eventually got out.”
He was relieved to find out everyone affected was unharmed, and the ten taken to hospital were done so as a precaution.
“Everybody is safe, and that’s what you want”, he added.
Police Scotland said an investigation into the cause of the blaze remains ongoing.
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