The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Amazon evacuations probed
Afull investigation has been launched after Amazon’ s fulfilment centre in Fife had to be evacuated due to fire for the third time in less than two months.
The site, which sits alongside the M90 on the outskirts of Dunfermline, is one of the UK’S biggest and employs more than 1,000 people in a warehouse the size of 14 football pitches that is home to millions of products.
No one has been injured in any of the incidents, but staff are said to be concerned about the frequency of the incidents.
In the most recent drama, hundreds of staff were led out to the car park when the alarm was raised at around 9pm on Wednesday.
Employees could be seen on social media covered in foil blankets in a bid to keep warm in freezing temperatures.
The site was evacuated for 20 minutes and workers were back on site to resume operations soon after.
However, the fire followed similar instances in November and December.
An Amazon spokesman said: “We can confirm there was a small fire at our Dunfermline fulfilment centre.
“The safety of our people is our priority and all associates were safely evacuated. An investigation is ongoing and we are continuing to work with the emergency services on this matter.”
The first incident on November 12 involved a more serious blaze that broke out in one of the warehouse’s pick towers at around 9.30am.
Staff were sent home and were paid for missed shifts after operations were affected for around a day.
Fire crews battled for more than three hours to bring that incident under control.
Other parts of Amazon’s n e two r k of fulfilment centres across the UK and Europe were called upon to help meet orders from customers across Scotland and the north of England.
The warehouse was evacuated again due to a fire at around 11.40pm on December 17.
Employees on the day shift were not affected and the site was open as normal the following day.
A source said there is currently “no evidence” to connect the three incidents at this stage, and the company is continuing to work with emergency services on the issue.