Probe launched into blaze at site of city barracks

● Emergency services begin investigation

Ajoint police and fire investigation is underway after fire tore through the former Territorial Army barracks site in Aberdeen on Tuesday evening.

The cause is unknown and it is unclear at this stage whether it may have been deliberately started.

The fire, which burned for about two hours, caused significant damage to the

Roy Strathdee Building. Thick smoke hung over the area for hours after the fire was extinguished and police had to restrict access to some streets.

Reports of a second fire, within the grounds of nearby Seaton Primary School, proved to be a misunderstanding relating to an organised bonfire.

Four fire crews from the Central and North Anderson Drive stations went to the scene after calls from residents and passers by at about 9pm. The first firefighters were on the site within five minutes and managed to put the fire out by 11.10pm.

Crews remained at the scene alongside police officers until 3.20am checking the building and beginning investigations. No one was hurt. Local resident Jamie Gibson said: “My girlfriend made me aware of the fire at about 9pm when she came in saying we had to call the fire brigade. Within two or three hours they had the fire under control, but the thick smoke sat over the streets for hours.”

Police diverted the public away from the area after closing the junction from King Street to Lord Hay’s Road and Don Street.

A police spokesman said: “Officers are working with Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to investigate a fire in Don Street, Aberdeen.

“Inquiries are ongoing to establish the full circumstances.”

Photograph by Jamie Gibson DAMAGE: The fire at the Roy Strathdee Building.