A fire at the Jenners building in Edinburgh has left a firefighter in very bad shape. At about 11:30, firefighters, police, and ambulance workers were sent to the old department store on Rose Street.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said that 22 fire trucks had been sent to the scene. Five firefighters were taken to the hospital, it said.
People who were there said that smoke was pouring out of the basement of the famous building in Edinburgh. Ross Haggart, who is the interim chief officer of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, said that the fire was “serious and complicated.”
He said, “Unfortunately, I can confirm that five of our coworkers were taken to the hospital, and one of them is still in a critical condition.”
All of St. Andrew Square was surrounded by a police cordon, and people in nearby offices were told to leave.
The Fire Brigades Union said it knew that some firefighters had been hurt in the incident. People who saw how emergency services responded on Princes Street media about it.
Sarah Mullins, 34-year-old manager of the Wagamama restaurant in St. Andrew Square. She said she first saw smoke around 11:30. She said, “It got so bad that we couldn’t see across the square.”
“The police told us to stay inside because the smoke was so bad that it would hurt our lungs. They said that staying inside was safer.
“It’s a shame that something like this happened to such a famous building.” The Jenners building opened in 1838. Before it closed, it was one of the oldest department stores in the world.
It was being fixed up, which was supposed to take four years. Under the plan, the six-story building with empty rooms will be turned into a hotel.
The current building was built in the Victorian renaissance revival style by architect William Hamilton Beattie. It opened in 1895, after the first building was burned down in 1892.
After House of Fraser bought the Jenners brand and property in 2005, the building was sold to private investors. The Danish billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen then bought it in 2017 for reportedly £53 million.