Local’s fears realised as derelict ‘fire hazard’ hotel is destroyed in third blaze
A fire that destroyed a centuries old prominent hotel in Fife brought resident’s worst fears to life.
The derelict Lundin Links Hotel was devastated on Thursday, and the town’s main road remains sealed off as firefighters continued to tackle the incident on yesterday.
It was the third, and most damaging fire, at the hotel, which closed in 2014.
Peter Aitken, chairman of Largo Area Community Council, which covers Lower Largo, Lundin Links, New Gilston and Woodside, Upper Largo, said: “It’sdevastatingforthecommunity, but we’ve been expecting this to happen for years. We’ve been warning this would happen. We’ve had two minor fires before. The alert was raised in timetosavethebuildingonboth occasions.
“But we knew that one day the alert wouldn’t be raised in time, and that’s what happened last night. It’s completely destroyed.”
Wendy Chamberlain, MP for North East Fife, who has raised concerns about the state of the building, criticised the owners of the former hotel, which she branded a “fire hazard”.
Kapital Residential had planning permission to convert the Category C-listed hotel into 35 flats, but went into liquidation in July with no work having started.thebuildingremained boardedupandbehindsecurity fences after Fife Council intervened over safety fears.
Mrs Chamberlain said: “The serious fire was a major escalation of the situation at the site.
“Since the building fell into disrepair, local people had been warning that it was a fire hazard. It was immensely frustrating that the owners took no steps to make it safe and Fife Council had to go to court in order to secure the building.
“These fears have unfortunatelyprovedentirelyaccurate. While we can be thankful that it seems no-one was hurt and the fire did not spread, the local communityhasbeensubjected to an unacceptable danger, as well as the disruption associated with responding to the fire.”
While the clear-up project has yet to begin and the village copeswiththedisruption,there isangerathowthebuildingwas allowed to deteriorate.
“Wewarnedtheownersmany times that the building was full of flammable material, such as beds, bedding and mattresses,” said Mr Aitken.
“Weaskedthemtogetthatout, Ipresumethatneverhappened. The watch commander who came out to the fire six months ago said that if that lot got hold, then it would just go up like a Roman candle. That’s exactly what happened last night.”
The community council also highlighted how poor water pressure hit fire crews’ bid to tackletheblaze.mraitkensaid: “Every time we have had a fire in Lundin Links, the community council has always said to Scottish Water that there is not enough water pressure to deal with fires. The fire brigade confirmed that last night.”
He said the issue wasn’t new, and called on the fire service to publish its report and for Scottish Water to take action.
A spokesman for Scottish Water said: “We work hard to safeguard our network so it copes and continues to provide a consistent water supply.”