The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Major blaze hits popular marina at Loch Tay
St Andrews clear up under way as news of new fire breaks
A full scale fire and rescue operation was mounted yesterday after a second major blaze hit Tayside and Fife in as many days.
As firefighters picked through the wreckage of a weekend blaze at St Andrews University, colleagues in Perthshire were scrambled to a lochside resort. Flames ripped through the restaurant and reception building at Taymouth Marina at Loch Tay.
Dozens of firefighters and vehicles rushed to the scenic spot to battle the blaze.
No one was injured and Angus McKay, marina general manager, said: “Everybody is safe and that is the main thing.”
Investigators in St Andrews said yesterday afternoon the fire which struck the university’s biomedical sciences building on Sunday was accidental.
University principal Professor Sally Mapstone thanked local people for their help and said thoughts are now turning to salvaging precious research material from the fire-hit building.
St Andrews University said it would try to salvage as much research material as possible from the fire-ravaged biomedical sciences building.
Fire investigation continued yesterday at the 20-year-old biomedical sciences (BMS) building at North Haugh which suffered a devastating blaze on Sunday evening.
Police confirmed the blaze which ripped through laboratories used by PhD students was accidental and there were no casualties.
The university’s principal, Professor Sally Mapstone, said: “Despite external appearances, the fire was limited to four rooms on the second and third floors.
“We have however been advised by the fire service that there is likely to be extensive water and smoke damage to other areas of the building and especially the lower floors.
“I know that it is this aspect of the fire which has caused particular distress to colleagues who work in BMS.
“The lower floors house specialist fridges and liquid nitrogen containers in which are kept cell lines and other critical research materials, in some cases the key to lifetimes’ work.”
She said the process of salvaging research material could take days.
She added: “It may be considerably longer than that before we will know the full extent of the effect of the fire on our portfolio of world class biomedical research.
“It is a fraught time for everyone connected with BMS and I am aware of the extent to which colleagues across the university, and in other institutions, have been in contact to bring moral and some very practical support. By itself, that response does St Andrews proud.”
St Andrews University quaestor and factor Derek Watson said everything possible would be done to recover precious research material.
He said: “The fire service will now support us to go in and try to recover as much of the research material as we can.
“Clearly we hope that will mean that research activity is not lost, and we’ll simply have to relocate them to other labs to allow work to continue.
“It is hugely disappointing. The research that goes on here is genuinely world-leading.”
Mr Watson said it was fortunate just “a handful” of people were in the building when the fire broke out shortly before 5pm on Sunday.
He said: “The staff are more impacted at the moment because we’ve had to close the building. It’s under the control of the fire service and, until we get control back, those staff have got no access to the labs.”
He said teaching is continuing as normal.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service area manager Roddy Keith praised staff and students for their prompt reaction to the incident.
“There were a number of students and staff in the building at the time,” he said.
“Their own procedures were enacted very quickly, the alarm was sounded and the building was evacuated very effectively.
“I would like to pay tribute to university staff and students for reacting as quickly as they did at the time.”
“Due to the nature of the building, a number of hazardous materials were within it, as we would fully expect. We do have to follow different procedures for that.
“We’ve got very well established procedures for dealing with hazardous materials incidents.
“It just involves some additional work so we can tackle the fire safely in the first instance and maintain safety throughout the building.”
Students in accommodation blocks were told to keep their windows shut.