Two people have been hospitalised following a fire at an industrial unit containing “potentially hazardous materials” in the Scottish Borders.
The incident was reported at around 6.45am on Friday at the site in Walkerburn.
Crews from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) attended, including specialist units.
The fire has now been extinguished, but the service confirmed two people whoe were treated at the scene have since been taken to Borders General Hospital for further treatment on their injuries.
A Scottish Borders Council spokesperson said debris from the local area may contain asbestos but publish risk is "very low".
A statement on the local authority's website said: "Debris from the incident has been distributed into neighbouring residential areas in the vicinity of Caberston Road, which we believe includes roof tiles which may contain asbestos.
"A risk assessment is being carried out, however we believe that the risk to the public is very low due to the type of material involved.
"Whilst the responsibility for the clean-up will be the responsibility of the site owners, we and partners are working closely with them to ensure that all public safety matters are dealt with as a priority.
"Any member of the public who finds debris within their property is asked to leave it in situ and contact our Environmental Health team via 0300 100 1800.
"The aim is for specialist licensed contractors to be on site later today to commence clean-up operations. This may require access to some private property.
"We continue to work with partners in relation to the incident."
#Walkerburn fire: debris distributed in local area from incident may contain asbestos but it is believed the public risk is very low. Any residents who find debris is asked to leave in situ with specialist contractors on site today to commence clear up https://t.co/R7C23MTQrV
— SBC (@scotborders) January 10, 2020
A SFRS spokesman said: “We were alerted at 6.44am on Friday to reports of a fire within an industrial unit in Walkerburn, Scottish Borders.
“Operations control mobilised two fire appliances and two specialist resources due to potentially hazardous materials, and firefighters are working to extinguish the flames.
“Two casualties have been treated at the scene, and crews remain in attendance.”
Scottish Borders Council said Walkerburn Primary School has been closed as a result of the incident.
The A72, which was closed between Innerleithen and The Nest roundabout near Caddonlee, has now reopened.
A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesman said: “We received a call at 6.51am today to attend an incident in Walkerburn.
“We dispatched one ambulance to the scene and transported two patients to Borders General Hospital.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here