Investigators are assessing damage to Edinburgh's iconic Jenners building in the wake of a blaze which left five firefighters in hospital, one of them critically injured.
The city’s council leader Cammy Day said that he “didn’t have an answer” to how severe the damage to the former department store was, and that structural surveys are underway.
Four fire engines remain at the site this morning, with the fire now extinguished.
One firefighter remains in a critical condition after suffering injuries tackling the fire yesterday, which broke out in the rear of the building. Four colleagues are also being treated in hospital with injuries thought not to be as severe.
READ MORE: Fire breaks out in old Jenners building in Edinburgh
Mr Day said that his thoughts are with their families, and that a multi-agency investigation comprised of police, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and the local authority, was underway into the cause of the blaze.
A cordon remains around the site of the fire, although local businesses are returning to normal and disruption is being kept to a minimum.
Mr Day said that the he was “hopeful” that the building, which is in the process of being turned into a hotel, could be saved.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland this morning, he said: “That will be subject to the surveys. Where we saw the fire yesterday was to the rear of the building and I hope that can be salvaged.
“There’s two important things here; The safety of our emergency service workers, and this iconic building which we will try to save as much as possible, subject to the structural surveys that are happening as we speak.”
Witnesses saw one soot-covered firefighter being brought out of the the burning building by two of their colleagues.
READ MORE: City centre reimagining should be done with urgency
After the fire started emergency services shut roads around the building, from which flames were seen coming out of the ground floor.
A total of 22 appliances and other specialist resources were sent to the scene at the fire’s height.
Founded in 1838, the department store was one of the oldest in the world when it closed in 2021.
The A-listed current building dates to 1895, after a fire destroyed the original.
Renovations are ongoing to transform it into a hotel, backed by a firm owned by fashion billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen.
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