LATEST: Poundland says it will support police and fire services to determine the cause of blaze in its Elgin store
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POUNDLAND has pledged to do everything it can to help the police and fire service establish what caused the fire which ripped through the building on Friday night.
A thorough investigation into the cause of the blaze is set to get underway early next week.
And while there is a lot of speculation on social media, a spokesman for the store said they do not yet know what caused the fire.
For now, the immediate task is assessing the full extent of the damage to the building.
Three staff members safely evacuated the building on Friday evening, just before closing time at 6pm as they prepared to cash up for the day.
This came after flames were spotted in one of the aisles in the shop. They immediately ensured a customer in a wheelchair exited the shop safely while the emergency services were called.
The Poundland spokesman said: "We remain extremely proud of them for their quick action and for the rapid attendance of the fire service from Elgin and elsewhere in Moray. We’re grateful there were no injuries.
"We’re thankful too for their quick action in extinguishing the fire and stopping its spread."
In terms of the police and fire probe, he added: "We understand the investigation into what caused the fire will begin early next week and we’ll be doing all we can to help the authorities find out what happened.
"At this stage we don’t know what caused the incident, but it goes without saying we’ll help the police and fire authorities in any way we can."
RELATED: Video from scene of blaze
As far re-opening the store, it is unclear when that will happen.
"We don’t know when we’ll be in a position to reopen the store – it’s clear at this early stage, there’s extensive damage to the shop floor – and full assessments won’t be made until next week.
"But we’ll keep customers up-to-speed with the situation as we know more about the impact of the fire.
"In the meantime we sincerely apologise to customers for our unforeseen closure. We’ll be looking after our colleagues who work at Elgin and doing all we can to re-open as soon as we’re able."
At the height of the fire, more than 50 firefighters were on scene, with two appliances from Elgin, and others from Lossiemouth, Buckie, Keith, Fochabers, Rothes and Aberlour. There was also a turntable ladder from Inverness and other support vehicles.
The main A96 through Elgin was closed to allow access for emergency vehicles and nearby businesses were advised to close on safety grounds.
The road and businesses reopened on Saturday morning, although police and fire officials remain at the scene.
