Edinburgh residents 'evacuated' as heavily fly-tipped street goes up in flames

Edinburgh residents were reportedly evacuated from their homes last night after their heavily fly-tipped street went up in flames.

Just ten days ago Edinburgh Live published grievances from West Pilton Rise locals who were unhappy with the volume of rubbish dumped on their street.

However, occupants of the street were reportedly evacuated from their homes last night after a large pile of the litter caught on fire on nearby Ferry Road Avenue.

READ MORE - Edinburgh dad turns old warehouse into 'party place' with his daughter's designs

In images shared with Edinburgh Live , huge volumes of furniture and rubbish can be seen scorched and blackened amongst the aftermath of this morning's inferno.

Ivy on the building next to the rubbish left by selfish fly-tippers has been burnt into oblivion, providing indication as to the size of the blaze.

One eyewitness told Edinburgh Live : "There were fire trucks and residents had been evacuated to West Pilton Grove. It must have been a big fire because you can see in the pictures all the ivy on the side caught fire."

A resident spoke to us anonymously last week to voice their concerns around the risk of a fire, stating that: "When the refuse collectors arrive they will only empty the bins they can access, which means bin bags pile up outside un-emptied bins.

Huge volumes of furniture and rubbish were left scorched (Supplied)

"Local wildlife rips everything open overnight and the situation escalates.

"Around 3 years ago one of the locals started a controlled fire and slowly burned everything over the course of about 12 hours."

Unaware of the impending blaze which would strike their street just ten days later, they added: "Recently it's become a fire hazard because folk carelessly set fire to the piles of furniture.

"If the trees leaning against the buildings had caught fire it could be a danger to people in the buildings."

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that they were called to 'a large quantity of rubbish on fire' at approximately 11.37pm last night.

Sign up to Edinburgh Live's Daily News newsletter to get the latest headlines sent directly to your inbox every day