A Dumfries pensioner was dragged to safety as flames licked the outside of his house after yobs set fire to a nearby caravan.
Charlie McLellan was enjoying his dinner when his son and a friend burst into Eastfield House and pulled the 69-year-old outside by his arms.
He said: “It wasn’t until I was outside that I saw the flames. The fence next to the house and my shed and everything in it are burnt down. The corner of my roof also caught fire.
“If the firemen were another minute in getting there, I’d still have been sitting in there with my curry.”
Police are treating Friday’s blaze as suspicious.
Constable Jaclyn Irving said: “Sometime around 4.45pm a caravan which was parked on a piece of waste ground in Eastfield Road in Dumfries was set on fire.
“The fire spread to a nearby fence and house which were both damaged in the incident. The fire was extinguished by the fire and rescue service.”
She added: “We are currently carrying out door to door enquiries and examining CCTV footage from the area in an attempt to establish the facts surrounding this fire. At this stage we are treating it as suspicious.
“We are appealing to anyone who may have been along Eastfield Road on Friday afternoon to get in touch if they saw or heard anything suspicious. Values of the damage caused are still being assessed. Anyone with any information which might help should call police on the 101 number.”
Mr McLellan said: “I think the caravan belongs to the previous owner of the property but it had been there since I moved here in 2012.
“Young folk would go into the caravan every now and then and throw microwaves and televisions out through the windows. I reported it to police and community officers a few times over the last two or three years.
“There was a group of teenagers hanging around on Friday before the fire started, which was the first day of the school holidays.”
Mr McLellan was first alerted to the blaze when his dog started barking.
“He was jumping up and down at the door so I let him out. He kept barking so I went out and could hardly see for the smoke but I thought it was mist.
“I went back inside to finish my curry because I hadn’t had one in four years.
“After my son and his friend dragged me outside, I told them I’d need to go back in because I’d forgotten my fags. They told me I was going nowhere.
“Hopefully the police will catch those responsible and there will be no more trouble.”
