Fire causes town centre evacuation
Staff and shoppers out for over an hour
Dozens of staff and customers were evacuated from East Kilbride Shopping Centre when a fire broke out in Starbucks.
Emergency services received reports of smoke and a burning smell coming from inside Centre West shopping mall next to Debenhams at around 8am on Monday.
Staff and customers in the mall’s fashion and retail stores and tax office workers at the Plaza Tower were quickly ushered outside the building while three fire crews tackled the blaze.
No one was injured in the incident.
Police initially told the News the fire was contained within the ground floor coffee shop.
It was later confirmed by town centre management that an electrical fault in the ventilation system sparked the blaze.
A spokeswoman from Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “Crews are attending an incident at the Centre West area of the shopping centre in East Kilbride.
“Services received reports of smoke coming from the building at 8.02am on Monday morning through a 999 call.
“The smoke was found to be coming from the ventilation system.
“The smell was quickly sourced to a ventilation system within the centre and an electrician is now on scene attempting to fix the fault.”
One appliance remained at the scene for some time as a precaution.
A spokesman for EK East Kilbride said: “The centre’s fire alarm was triggered when sensors detected smoke in a unit in Centre West this morning.
“An orderly evacuation of Centre West and Plaza took place and the fire service and police were on the scene within a matter of minutes.
“Following a thorough examination an electrical issue was discovered to be the cause.
“The centre was given the allclear at approximately 9.40am and reopened to staff and customers.”