Two men have been praised for raising the alarm and attempting to save their neighbour’s life after flames broke out at a block of flats in Inverness city centre.
Todor Petrov, 21, and Stoyan Stoyanov, 23, rushed to the aid of the 57-year-old man in the flat below in Queensgate after hearing the fire alarm around 2.50am.
The Bulgarian men, who work at the nearby Sam’s Indian Cuisine restaurant, kicked in the door of the first-floor flat as they tried to help.
After several attempts to enter the property, the men had to retreat and alert neighbours of the blaze, before successfully clearing the building.
Sadly, the 57-year-old man was pronounced dead as emergency crews arrived minutes later.
Mr Petrov said: “We were just sitting in our room talking when we heard the fire alarm.
“We went to see where it was coming from and we could see it was from outside and could smell the smoke.
“We opened the window and we could see big smoke coming from the first floor in the flat below us.
We just tried to help save other people
Stoyan Stoyanov
“We ran downstairs and I broke the door and I started to speak to ask if somebody was inside.
At that point, they could hear the man saying he was “on fire”.
The man spoke to the duo for around 15 seconds before communication was lost.
‘We started to think it was dangerous’
Mr Stoyanov held the door whilst Mr Petrov wrapped a wet towel around his head before attempting to enter the flat several times more but he said his passage was blocked and the heat was too much.
The duo kept trying for around 10 minutes but the inferno was too hot and they had to halt their efforts.
Mr Stoyanov said: “The last he just said was ‘I need help’ and that was it.
“We tried to speak to him to make sure he is still alive but there was no response.
“We started to think it was dangerous for us so we just tried to help save other people.”
Neighbours unaware of the blaze
The duo raced up and down the building bashing doors and shouting as loud as they could to alert neighbours, with some reporting that they hadn’t heard the fire alarm and believed the noise may have been coming from people who were drunk in the block.
Mr Stoyanov added: “We tried not to panic. We weren’t scared at all, we just tried to help people.
“We learnt in school back in Bulgaria, we have one programme every year and what they do is like a fake fire and teach us to help people.
“So that just came straight away in my mind and just clicked.
“Without any emotion and we just felt we need to do that.”
Refuge
There were freezing temperatures in the Highland capital overnight, and many of the residents were ill-equipped to handle standing in the street in their night clothes.
Mr Petrov and Mr Stoyanov decided to take their neighbours to their place of work, Sam’s, to keep them warm while they waited for word that they could return.
The men have said they have been left saddened after learning that the man died in the blaze.
Mr Petrov added: “The good news is we managed to help all the neighbours but the bad news is that we didn’t save the man’s life.
“We did the best we can.”
Another neighbour in the block, Rachael MacDonald, said she was “devastated” to hear that the man had passed away.
She praised the efforts of Mr Petrov and Mr Stoyanov for raising the alarm and preventing more people from being killed or injured.
She said: “We’re all so thankful to the guys who knocked on the doors.
“Some of the guys in one of the flats work at Sam’s so they opened it up for us and gave us tea and coffee, and kept us out of the cold.
“Can’t thank everyone enough for what they did for us.”
Sam’s co-owner Harry Sarwar said he was proud of how his workers responded to the incident.
He said: “They acted quickly and did everything they could to help. They tried to save the man’s life, and even afterwards they were looking after the other people in the building.
“I am so proud of them.”
Not suspicious
Residents were allowed to return to their flats around 7am on guidance from police and the fire service.
A joint investigation was launched in the wake of the incident, however, police have now said the fire is not being treated as suspicious.