A police probe has been launched after Ayr's Station Hotel was placed on lockdown this afternoon.
Emergency services raced to the scene after a fire broke out at the rear of the abandoned B-Listed pile. Seven fire appliances were mobilised - including a major incident support unit from Bellshill - as teams converged on the structure which overlooks the town's train station.
Large crowds of onlookers gathered at the top of the town to watch the unfolding spectacle, which began shortly after 3.30pm. Trains to and from Glasgow down the west coast were severely disruped after power to the overhead lines was cut as part of the emergency response. Services to and from Ayr were slowly restarting when the line re-opened at 8pm tonight.
It's understood fire crews who arrived at the scene were initially prevented from entering due to the 'Dangerous Building' notice first slapped on the structure more than five years ago.
They eventually gained access at the ground floor level where a group of firefighters were seen making their way slowly into the building, with some slowly scaling the scaffolding. Meanwhile to the building's front, a hydraulic platform scanned the hotel for any signs of pockets of fire breaking out.
The hotel has remained in limbo since 2018 with bosses at South Ayrshire Council taking charge of the site while locked in a legal battle with absentee owner Eng Huat Ung in order to secure the site's safety. The cost of protective scaffolding has soared to £65,000 each month.
However, a number of security breaches have exposed the protective 'dome' which sits around the building and Ayrshire Live understands a number of recent breaches have introduced fresh concerns around the stability of the site. It is believed police have already sought out CCTV footage of the areas around the hotel as part of the early investigation into today's fire.
One eyewitness told Ayrshire Live: "Thankfully it looks like a real disaster was averted because the size of the emergency response told you everything about how worried they were. You could see the smoke coming from the back of the building and if that had properly taken hold, it doesn't bear thinking about what would have happened.
"Everyone in the crowd was just standing in stunned silence, really. It was a very sad sight. The hotel is obviously long since by its glory days and we've all dreaded something horrible happening - thankfully things didn't get out of control today but it was a real warning of what could happen."
ScotRail confirmed tonight that train services were slowly returning to normal following the day's events.
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