High-rise fire death
Pensioner perishes
A pensioner died after fire ravaged her home in an East Kilbride tower block.
The alarm was raised at Sadlers Wells Court in Calderwood at around 10.20pm on Thursday after smoke was seen billowing from a first-floor flat.
Emergency services raced to the scene where firefighters tackled the blaze for several hours.
Tragically, the lifeless body of a 65-year-old woman was found inside the property. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
A joint fire investigation with Police Scotland is now underway to determine the cause of the fire.
However, it is not believed to be suspicious.
SFRS Area Commander Alan Fairbairn, the local senior officer for South Lanarkshire, said: “We were alerted to a fire in a flat at Sadlers Wells Court, East Kilbride at 10.22pm on Thursday, January 23.
“Operations control mobilised five appliances to the scene to extinguish the fire within a firstfloor flat.
“Firefighters located one female in the property and sadly she was pronounced dead at the scene.
“A joint fire investigation alongside our Police Scotland colleagues is now underway.”
The News spoke to neighbours the following morning who described the incident as a “tragedy”.
A female pensioner said: “What an awful tragedy. I feel for the poor woman’s family.
Describing the scene, a thirdfloor resident said: “I could smell the smoke, it was strong.
“There were five fire engines, three ambulances, six police motors and an investigation team.
“As far as I know they contained it pretty quickly but the fire bridage were still here well into the early hours of this morning so I knew it must have been serious.
“You don’t like to hear about anyone dying, what a tragedy.”
The resident also raised concerns about the emergency protocol for high-rise flat fires.
“They [the fire service] told us to stay in our flats but if there’s a fire the first thing I’m going to do is get out”, he said.
“No one came to my door, I had to come down and find out what was going on. I could smell the smoke really bad.
“It’s mostly older people in here and they told us not to move.
“I know it’s for our safety but you have to look at it from our point of view. The first thought you have is Grenfell.
“I have epilepsy and depression, it was very unsettling.”
The family of the victim did not wish to comment.