A SPECTACULAR blaze dominated the north Edinburgh skyline last night as it ripped through a partly-built six-storey block of flats on a construction site.
The fire occurred just before 11pm at the Waterfront Gate development at the junction of Pennywell Road and West Granton Road, a police spokesman said.
The blaze was visible across much of north Edinburgh and eyewitnesses reported seeing a huge fi
reball from over a mile away.
Harriet Evans, 36, a utilities manager from Newhaven, said she was out walking near Newhaven pier when she saw the sky turn orange. She said: "We saw an enormous flaming fireball lighting up the whole sky."
Another man, who did not want to be named, said: "It was enormous, a huge plume of smoke going up."
A spokeswoman for the fire service said they regarded it as a large incident, but there were no reports of casualties.
She said: "We got the first call at 10.48pm to a fire in a new building site to an 80m by 80m timber frame construction. We have four pumping appliances, two height appliances and four special appliances there. It's a large incident."
A police spokesman said last night: "It's quite a big fire. Those living in homes closest to it are getting moved out as a precautionary measure but we have no reports of casualties. Muirhouse Parkway, Pennywell Road and West Granton Road are all closed at the moment."
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Ambulance Service said they had an ambulance standing by at the scene to look after the safety of the firefighters.
It comes weeks after 50 people were forced to flee when a massive fire tore through a block of flats being built near Hibernians' Easter Road stadium in Edinburgh.
Work had to be carried out to remove a crane on a site in Hawkshill Close damaged by the blaze amid fears it could collapse on neighbouring homes in Albion Gardens.
The full article contains 332 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
