13 rescued as tenement blaze traps residents

FIREFIGHTERS rescued 13 people from a burning building during a major emergency operation at the Shore.

Seven casualties were treated in hospital for smoke inhalation but nobody was seriously injured.

The blaze started in the first floor flat of a four-storey tenement above the Waterline Pub, in Leith, at 8.40pm last night.

The fire was reported by panicked residents above the flat who found themselves trapped by thick smoke in the stairwell.

The living room and kitchen of the home where the blaze was sparked was today described as “completely gutted”. The rest of the flat suffered extensive smoke damage.

Around 45 firefighters tackled the flames and rescued people from windows at the front and side of the tenement on Waters Close using a turntable ladder and a hydraulic platform.

It is not yet known what started the blaze. An investigation is under way today.

Fire service telephone operators provided survival guidance for residents trapped in flats above the blaze.

Initial reports suggested some residents had been unaccounted for but fire crews carried out multiple rescues and fought the flames using breathing kits and high pressure hose reels.

Four people were rescued by hydraulic platform, one by ladder and others were led to safety by firefighters using the stairs.

It is understood the occupant of the flat where the fire sparked had been in a nearby pub and was contacted by a friend to say her home was ablaze.

When she arrived at the scene the woman was said to be “hysterical” and believed her parents may have been inside.

Witnesses told how smoke was bellowing from the first floor windows while flames could be seen tearing through the flat.

David Young, group commander at Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service, said: “[We were told] there was the possibility there were people trapped inside the building. When we arrived there was a well developed fire in the first floor flat above the Waterline Pub.

“We performed multiple rescues using a hydraulic platform at the front and the side of the building while there was also a rescue using a ladder at Waters Close. No one has been reported injured at this point.

“Control operators were giving survival guidance over the phone to people trapped inside.

“It could have been very serious. We were rescuing people from the windows and when people cannot escape using their stairwell it’s very frightening for them.”

Oil, Gas Companies Injected Toxic Chemicals Into Ground, U.S. Report Shows

Fourteen oil and gas companies used 780 million gallons of hydraulic-fracturing products from 2005 and 2009, including toxic substances like benzene and lead, to extract gas from shale rock, according to a report by Democrats in the U.S. Congress.

More than 2,500 products containing 750 chemicals and other components were used, Representatives Henry Waxman, Edward Markey and Diana DeGette wrote in the report.

Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is a technique that involves injecting a mix of water, sand and chemicals into the ground to extract oil or gas. From 2005 and 2009, the 14 companies used fracking products containing 29 chemicals that are known or possible human carcinogens, regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act for their risks to human health or listed as hazardous air pollutants, according to the report.

“In many instances, the oil and gas service companies were unable to identify these proprietary chemicals, suggesting that the companies are injecting fluids containing chemicals that they themselves cannot identify,” Democrats on the Energy and Commerce Committee said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

The most widely used chemical in fracking during this period was methanol, a hazardous air pollutant, the report shows. The Democratic study was reported earlier by the New York Times.

“Hydraulic fracturing has opened access to vast domestic reserves of natural gas that could provide an important stepping stone to a clean energy future,” according to the report. “Yet questions about the safety of hydraulic fracturing persist, which are compounded by the secrecy surrounding the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluids.”
Shale-Gas Output

Shale-gas output in the U.S. rose more than eightfold in the last decade as operators started fields in Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Louisiana, Montana and North Dakota. Increased supplies could help reduce the amount of energy the U.S. imports, the Energy Information Administration said in December.

President Barack Obama said last month the U.S. should tap its shale-gas deposits as part of a long-term plan to guarantee energy security. Shale gas may account for 45 percent of total U.S. gas output by 2035 compared with 14 percent in 2009, EIA data show.