Firefighters are on their way to a blaze near Memsie
A wheelie bin blaze in a north-east town is believed to have been started deliberately, police said yesterday.
Emergency services were called to Clergy Street in Macduff at 10pm on Sunday after neighbours reported seeing flames and thick smoke coming from a front garden.
Two local fire crews attended the incident, but the blaze was out by the time they arrived.
The teams used breathing apparatus to check the scene and ensure the fire had been extinguished completely.
The owner of the property, a man in his late 70s, was said to have been slightly injured but declined to be taken to hospital for a check up.
Yesterday, a force spokeswoman said that the fire was now the subject of a joint police and fire service investigation.
“It appears this fire was started deliberately,” she said. “We would urge any witnesses to get in touch.”
It is the third suspicious fire in Macduff in just a matter of weeks.
A blaze at a net store in the town’s Mill Street on May 18 destroyed thousands of pounds worth of fishing equipment.
Days later, nearly 50 firefighters tackled another major fire at Braeheads.
The early morning inferno caused extensive damage to a vacant flat.
