The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Forfar teenager ‘thought she was going to die’ in flats blaze
Terrified residents were evacuated from burning block in early hours yesterday
A 14-year-old Forfar schoolgirl has spoken about her dramatic rescue from a burning block of flats in the town.
Terrified residents were evacuated from the building on Lordburn Place yesterday morning at around 7.30am, after the fire suddenly broke out.
High school pupil Chloe O’Hare was rushed to Ninewells Hospital and was released after being treated for smoke inhalation.
She said: “I’m still scared. I woke up and saw the smoke and that is when I started screaming.
“I was shouting ‘I don’t want to die’ because that’s what I thought was going to happen to me.
“I was so relieved when I saw the fire engine. They (the firefighters) walked me down the stairs.
“There was an ambulance and they said I had to go to Ninewells to get checked over. I was shaking and I wanted to cry. I kept bursting out into tears in the ambulance.”
Frantic neighbours were earlier forced back by flames and smoke in the stairwell as four fire engines rushed to the scene.
Chloe’s father, Antony O’Hare, 50, was at work in Brechin at the time.
He said: “I have gone through all the stages and now there’s an anger and I want to know what has happened.
“If Chloe hadn’t woken up then she might have passed in her sleep.”
One neighbour climbed on to the ledge of a first floor window to help rescue a childminder, the three children in her care and a dog from a flat.
Firefighters rescued other residents trapped in the block by the blaze burning in the stairwell.
Svetlana Mihnevica, 41, was looking after two girls aged eight and 12 and one boy aged eight in her first floor flat when the fire took hold.
Her neighbours helped her to pass the children and her dog out of the window, before she followed them to safety.
“I am a childminder and I had the kids in the morning. I look after them before I take them to school.
“I went to the door and I saw the white smoke so I went back inside to start dressing all the kids. I tried to go back out but there was too much smoke.
“All I could think about was getting the kids out.”
Timur Kharison, 38, whose house looks on to the building, was part of a group involved in the rescue.
He was met with flames and acrid smoke pouring from the entrance as he arrived at the scene.
He said: “Our friend lives in a first floor flat. It was about 7.30am and I could hear screaming from people at the windows. I tried to get in the door but there were flames and smoke – it was completely black.
“I stood on the windowsill and helped her out, along with three children and a dog. People were screaming, people were climbing out of the windows. “Another two guys were also helping.” Ambulance crews treated residents rescued by the fire crews from Forfar and Kirriemuir, as shocked residents, many still in their nightwear, looked on.