The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Man, 66, dies after Broughty Ferry fire
Householder pulled from ground floor flat by firefighters
A 66-year-old man has died after being pulled out of a ground floor flat fire in Broughty Ferry at the weekend.
Emergency services were called to Forthill Drive on Saturday at around 11am after smoke was seen “belching” from the front door.
The man was pulled out of the property but was pronounced dead shortly after. His family have been informed, a police spokeswoman confirmed.
A joint investigation between police and fire services into the cause has been launched.
Two tents were erected in the garden on Saturday – one sheet held up by a ladder as the man was pulled out of the flat and a forensic tent slightly further away from the building.
A neighbour said the man had lived alone in the property for about four years and was sometimes seen using a walking frame.
He also needed regular assistance from carers.
A fire investigation unit was stationed outside the door on Saturday afternoon, as well as a number of other police and fire vehicles.
The road was said to have been “completely filled” with fire engines and ambulance vehicles.
One neighbour said she heard the smoke alarm going off from the flat, but did not realise the severity of the situation at first.
“The person who lived there before him would always set the alarm off as well, burning toast and things like that. It must have been a sensitive one,” she said. “When I heard the alarm I didn’t think anything of it but then I saw all the vehicles. They filled the entire street.
“I could see smoke belching out of the front door and some from the windows in the upstairs flat as well.
“Then the firefighter put up a tent really quickly, that must have been when they pulled him out because I didn’t see that.”
Rab Middlemiss, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service area commander, said: “A 66-year-old man was removed from the property but very sadly pronounced dead a short time later.”