Neighbour's brave fire rescue attempt

A HERO neighbour has told of how he desperately tried to rescue a woman who died after a fire ripped through her home.

Julie Fergus, 45, suffered serious burns in the blaze, which broke out in her first-floor Wardieburn Street West flat at around 5.15pm on Sunday, and died shortly after arriving at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.

John Milligan, 32, who moved into the ground floor flat two weeks ago with his partner and young son, initially thought the fire was a barbecue, but soon realised the flat above was ablaze.

A distressed friend of Ms Fergus', in her early 20s, ran into the stairway shouting that she was still inside the burning flat.

Mr Milligan said: "There was another boy just coming over at the time and we went upstairs to try to kick the door in but the door just wouldn't go. It was tight. It just wasn't going at all.

"One of us was holding the handle down whilst the other one was kicking at the Yale (lock]. The black smoke was coming out and we just couldn't do anything.

"We tried our best. There was a woman up the stairs, she was pregnant. I told her to come down because the smoke was going up. I don't know what was behind the door but it just wouldn't go."

Mr Milligan said that plastic inside the property appeared to have melted, causing the smoke to turn acrid.

He added: "We could hear crackling, the smoke was more than enough to tell you it had gone too far and you couldn't get in.

"Once we heard the fire engines we came back down."

More than 15 firefighters rushed to the scene to tackle the blaze and forced their way into the two-bedroom flat.

They also had to break into five other neighbouring properties to make sure the flames had not spread and all of the residents had escaped.

Another man at the scene suggested it was not the first time Ms Fergus had been rescued from a fire.

Yesterday a woman found a black cat in the flat, believed to belong to Ms Fergus. It is believed the cat had been hiding in the building during the blaze.

Those who knew Ms Fergus yesterday lay floral tributes at the gate. One card read: "Julie. RIP. You will be fondly remembered."

Luka Graham, 23, and her partner James Brogan, 32, who live in the neighbouring flat on the next stair, described Ms Fergus as "Hibs mad". adding that they could often hear her cheering on the Leith side on matchdays.

Miss Graham added: "It's a terrible shame to hear what's happened. I know her friends who live in the street are really devastated."