Officers probe blaze at former city care home

A DEVASTATING fire that ripped through a former Dundee care home on Saturday is being treated as suspicious.

Police Scotland confirmed yesterday that officers were carrying out inquiries at the former St Joseph’s Wellburn Care Home on Liff Road.

The fire engulfed the building, completely destroying the roof.

Four appliances with firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought the blaze for around two hours.

Eyewitnesses described the scene as dramatic and said that at the height of the fire the building was well alight, with flames and smoke shooting into the sky.

A Police Scotland spokesman said: “We were called to reports of a fire at a building on Liff Road, Dundee, at around 3pm on Saturday.

“Inquiries are ongoing to establish the cause, although there were no reported injuries.”

Sergeant Paul McIlravey said: “We would like to remind the public of the dangers of entering or being close to a dangerous building.

“I would urge witnesses or anyone who may have information about the fire to come forward.”

A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We received a call at 2.53pm.

“We sent four appliances to the scene – two each from Blackness Road and Macalpine Road.”

Local resident Jenn MacKenzie said she spotted the flames around 3pm and dialled 999, adding: “It was so sad to see – the flames were shooting into the sky.

“There was also a huge pall of thick black smoke.

“It looks like the roof of the building has completely gone.

“There have been a few incidents at the derelict building in recent years, but this time what’s happened is really bad.”

Another eyewitness described seeing a huge cloud of black smoke and flames.

He said: “Four fire engines with firefighters wearing breathing apparatus fought the blaze – at its height the building was well alight.”

Wellburn House provided care to the elderly of Dundee for more than 150 years.

The home was run by the Little Sisters of the Poor, although the site originally contained a Georgian residential villa with walled gardens.

It was converted in the early 1800s to a Roman Catholic manse and chapel, before the site was extended throughout the 19th and early 20th Centuries.

It also served as a chapel, seminary, college and convent before becoming a care facility.

It closed in May 2017 after a 94-year-old man plunged to his death from a second-floor window and the building was classed as no longer being fit for purpose.

Since then, the religious group has maintained the property at a cost of around £60,000 a year.

Barratt Homes now plans to build 83 new homes on the site.

Flames erupt from the roof of the former St Joseph’s Wellburn Care Home on Liff Road, tackled by four fire appliances and their crews.