EYEWITNESSES to a high-rise fire in Knightswood have spoken of their fears in the aftermath of the Grenfell disaster in London.

One man was taken to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital following the blaze at 15 Kirkton Avenue yesterday morning.

Firefighters were sent to tackle the fire at 5.45am on March 26, and police said investigations are underway to establish the cause.

Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) who own the high-rise said the fire was contained to the flat it started in.

Resident Caroline Baldwin has lived in the building for 18 years and lives on the 12th floor.

She told our sister paper, the Evening Times, there have been two fires in the building in the past 18 months and spoke of her worries after 72 people died in a huge tower block fire in west London in June 2017.

She added: “We had the heads of GHA out to us the first time, after what happened in London [Grenfell], assuring everyone the buildings won’t go up.

“The cladding is different from the one in London, but really we don’t know what’s happening. We didn’t get the chap to tell us the lifts were back on again.

“About 7.15 this morning, there was a batter at the door with the fire guys telling me there was a fire on floor six.

“And we’re told they would come back and let us know when the lifts were back on again. I sat for ages and no-one came back, so I just took my chance and came down.

Read more: Emergency services remain at scene of Kirkton Avenue high-rise fire

“They told me not to leave. I could walk down the stairwell but there’s no way I could have made that stairwell. I’m missing hospital appointments. The council just don’t bother.

“They’ll come and get that tidied up and re-let that again. That’s the third one [fire] in two years.”

A family with a small baby who live on the eighth floor said: “At 6.30am, the firemen banged on our door to tell us about the fire.

“The police told us it happened on the seventh floor.

“We don’t know how long it will be safe. With what happened in London, of course we’re worried.”

A support worker for one of the residents in the building added: “The fire crews knocked on his door around 6am to let him know about the fire.

“There is a strong smell of smoke in the corridors. They’ve opened all the windows in the hall to air it.

“Other support workers are here to check on residents.

“Particularly after Grenfell, we made sure fire safety checked his apartment.

“There are procedures in place so they [vulnerable residents] are known to agencies in case there is an emergency.”

A GHA spokesperson said: “The fire service was called by our 24-hour on-site staff who were contacted by a tenant. The fire was contained to the flat where it started and quickly put out. Since then housing staff, working with our dedicated fire-safety officers, have knocked on every door in the block to answer tenants’ questions and provide assurance.”

An SFRS spokesman said: “We were alerted at 5.45am to reports of a fire at a flat within a multi-storey building in Glasgow.

“Operations Control mobilised five fire engines to the scene, at Kirkton Avenue, where crews extinguished the flames.”