Elderly residents evacuated as fire destroys roof at Kincardine nursing home

Part of a nursing home’s roof has been left gutted after crews battled a fire for more than two-and-a-half hours.

Forth Bay Nursing Home in Kincardine was evacuated when a blaze broke out at around 3.20pm on Monday.

Members of the public came to the aid of the elderly residents by helping them to find shelter.

Around 60 firefighters were at the scene, dousing flames with powerful water jets to extinguish the fire by 6pm.

But despite their “tremendous” efforts, the roof at the east side of the premises was destroyed.

Area Manager Roddie Keith, the SFRS Incident Commander, said: “I would like to pay tribute to our crews. They did a tremendous job in dealing with an extensive fire, ultimately bringing this incident to a swift conclusion.

“I would also like to thank our emergency service partners at Police Scotland and the Scottish Ambulance Service as well as the nursing home staff and the local authority.

“I must also acknowledge the people of this community who assisted the nursing home residents by helping to take them to a place of safety. Their care and compassion is to be thoroughly commended.”

A total of nine fire engines, two height appliances, a command support unit and investigation unit were mobilised to the scene.

After the blaze was extinguished, crews continued to tackle small pockets of fire and cutting away sections of the interior roof space to ensure no further spreading.

Buildings in the surrounding streets were also evacuated as a precaution.

Police Scotland have asked pedestrians and motorists to avoid the area.

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