22-06-2025
Man arrested over fire at former Perth primary school
A teenager has been arrested over a fire at a former primary school in eyewitness described seeing a "tornado of fire and smoke" at the old Balhousie Primary School building on Muirton Place shortly after midnight on Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) dispatched six crews and two height appliances to the scene, with firefighters continuing to battle back the blaze into the early 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with wilful fire-raising.
Two crews and a height appliance remain on the scene on Sunday morning to carry out dampening down work, the SFRS were not thought to be any casualties, but a number of properties were evacuated as a precaution, Police Scotland said.
One eyewitness told BBC Scotland News: "I drove past at about 01:30 and the roof had collapsed."There was a full fire-smoke tornado engulfing the building."The flames began to subside about an hour later and the red glow was almost completely gone by about 03:30."She added staff at a local garage had provided coffee and water to emergency responders, while a nearby branch of McDonald's had handed out food.
Dunkeld Road, Balhousie Street and Muirton Place were closed off and drivers and pedestrians have been warned to avoid the residents were warned to keep their windows and doors closed due to smoke coming from the Primary School was closed in 2023 when pupils were moved to the new Riverside Primary.
It is the second major fire to hit a building in the city in the space of a week after a tenement on the corner of South Street and Scott Street was destroyed last Saturday.A man died and an eight-year-old girl was taken to hospital, while Perth and Kinross Council said the building would have to be completely demolished due to the damage.
