Published: Thursday, 1st July, 2010 4:00pm

VIDEO: Councillor raised security fears days before Inverkeithing mill blaze

by Siew Peng Lee

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The mill in the wake of Friday's fire.

AN Inverkeithing councillor has raised concerns that Caldwell's Paper Mill was "being stripped" for weeks prior to the fire that ravaged the building on Friday.

Watch video footage of the fire here.

Councillor Alice McGarry had received reports from residents that vans had been going into the mill "for at least a couple of months" and taking any valuable material.

She claimed Fife police had only recently met Inveresk PLC, the mill's owners, and various Fife Council departments, including building control, to discuss security at the site when the fire occurred.

Mrs McGarry told the Press, "You saw all these guys in high-visibility jackets going in and thought it was perfectly legitimate.

"But then people told me it wasn't - there was wholesale theft going on because they knew the people who were doing it.

"Then a local worthy told me he was concerned about the corner of the roof, as it went onto the public path.

"I decided at that point to call Inveresk and learned that nobody had been given permission to take stuff away from the mill.

"I went up to see what was going on and there were a number of vans there and I called the police.

"They said they understood it was a legitimate operation but I told them it wasn't.

"The police went to speak to them and moved them out of the mill."

She added that the meeting between the police, council and Inveresk had taken place "less than a week" before the fire.

The blaze, believed to have started in the mezzanine level of the derelict building at Harbour Place, required nine pumping appliances, an aerial ladder platform and an emergency support unit.

Firefighters were called out around 10.30pm and despite getting the fire under control in the wee hours of Saturday, continued fighting the fire until about 8pm the next day.

At its height, the flames rose to about 100ft - the height of the mill's chimneys.

It was the second fire at the mill in as many days and resulted in the external facade crumbling and structural collapse, particularly to the back section of the roof.

Demolition contractors Skene have been called in to bring down parts of the mill that have been deemed unsafe.

Mrs McGarry said she "knew the building would come down at some point" but added, "When it comes down, it'll be a sad day.

"We're hoping it will come down sooner rather than later and have a worthy housing development down there but what we don't want is 20 years of dereliction."

David Somerville, Fife Fire and Rescue's incident commander on Friday, said the flash-over (spread of fire) happened "very quickly".

He said, "That building's about 50m by 70m and to see the roof all suddenly burst into flames within 15-20 seconds was quite a spectacle.

"Very quickly we got indications that the fire had now built up to a point where it could not be contained and the entire building became engulfed in fire in under 20 seconds.

"Because it was a derelict building there was no life risk and we fought it from a defensive point of view externally.

"It was really trying to restrict as much fire spread as possible and to get some control over what was happening."

Four pumps were left at the site overnight and for most of Saturday to dampen down hot spots, only leaving after 8pm.

There were no injuries, although two firefighters were decontaminated as a precaution following reports of asbestos in the building, which were later proved to be unfounded.

Fife police's scene of crime officers have visited and photographed the site but the cause of the fire has yet to be determined.

Mr Somerville said it was "difficult to tell" how the fire started.

He said, "We were informed by the police on our arrival that there were two youths seen to be in or around the property at about the time the fire started.

"It's a derelict property - there's no water, gas or electricity to it - so it wasn't due to that.

"We would consider that the most probable cause was deliberate ignition by a person or persons unknown."

South West Fife Chief Inspector Kevin Woods appealed to anyone with information about the fire to call the police on 0845 600 5702 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111

He added, "I would ask people to stay away from this area, as following the fire the premises are no longer safe.

"Officers from Fife Constabulary will continue to undertake high profile patrols in the area to prevent this and will deal with anyone found within the site in the strongest possible terms."

The mill was built in 1914 and has been empty since 2003 when it closed with the loss of 150 jobs.