Fire crews extinguish small blaze on council headquarters roof

At last night’s Selkirk Community Council virtual meeting on Zoom, Selkirk councillor Gordon Edgar said: “The plant room on the roof went on fire.

“The fire alarm detected it very quickly and the fire service was able to put it out.

“I understand it was started in a control box related to the large photovoltaic cells on the roof.

“The building was closed today (Monday), but I’m not sure when it will be reopened.”

A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service told us: “We were called at 9.03am on Sunday morning regarding a fire on the roof of the Scottish Borders Council building.

“Four appliances were in attendance and a situation appliance.

“There was a small fire on the roof but it was extinguished quickly, and the appliances left at 10.33am.”

A Scottish Borders Council spokesman said inquiries were ongoing as to the cause of the fire.

He added: “Only the plant room has sustained any damage, however, due to the equipment contained inside, SBC HQ was closed on Monday to enable system checks to be carried out and works to restore some services.

“Some areas of SBC HQ will continue to be closed for the remainder of this week to allow further inspections to take place.”

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation the headquarters has been closed to the public and only a very small number of staff have been working from the building and are therefore affected by the closure.