A near catastrophic fire yards from a book shop was brought under control in Paisley’s west end today.
Plumes of thick black smoke could be seen from miles away after the bins outside a block of flats on Walker Street were found alight.
Passers-by who spotted the blaze around 11.30am raced to notify residents of the building and the adjacent Abbey Books.
Four fire engines were dispatched to the scene where the flames were well established and travelling up the exterior of the property.
Brian Hannan, from Abbey Books, said the blaze had cracked the windows of the building and, despite an obvious heat along the walls, there was no major damage done to the building.
Brian told the Paisley Daily Express his colleague William Brown was in the store at the time and was horrified when he saw flames.
He said: “William was in the shop at the time and someone had come to the front door to say that there was a fire out the back.
“He went to the back and saw sheer flames shooting up the back of our building. The bins, which had caught fire, were right underneath the window.
“We are effectively one floor up if you look at it from the back due to the basement, so we are above that. The windows out the back which were above that were cracked, badly cracked.
“When I went on to check the shop afterwards, I felt the window and it was still warm. Nothing is damaged other than the window, which is lucky. It could have been much worse.
“At first I got a fright and thought the worst when I got a call about a fire at the shop. I knew that if the store went up in flames all the books could be gone.”
A cordon was put in place around the affected area, just off Wellmeadow Street, with police officers maintaining a presence at the area for some time after the fire was put out.
Brian added: “When I arrived after getting a call from William, as it was my day off, the street was blocked by police.
“There were three fire engines and four police cars. Police officers were standing at Lady Lane directing the traffic. They had to reverse buses up the street, and buses were going along George Street still, too. It was all chaos.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said its fire investigation team would was currently working to identify the cause of the fire.
They said: “We were alerted at 11.32am on Friday, January 10, to reports of a building on fire at Walker Street, just off Wellmeadow Street, Paisley.
“Operations Control mobilised three fire appliances and one height vehicle to the area and extinguished the fire. Crews left the scene at 12.48pm after ensuring the area was made safe. There were no casualties.”
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