A TEAM of maritime firefighters have been praised for their quick actions after they helped to tackle a blaze in Clydebank.

Police are treating the fire, at Spice Direct on Cable Depot Road, on Saturday morning as deliberate.

Three men from Clyde Training Solutions jumped into action when they spotted the fire at the nearby business unit shortly after 7am on July 24.

Quick-thinking Symon Needham, Archie Geddes and Craig Robertson called 999 and set to work using their own equipment to try and put out the blaze.

Police are investigating the wilful fire-raising and said dozens of palettes had been placed in front of the building before being set alight.

An eyewitness told the Post: “The fire team, who are all maritime firefighters, were doing an offshore course at the centre at 7am.

“When they arrived they noticed that the unit next to Clyde Training Solutions was on fire, and that it was quite bad.

“They obviously called 999 but they’ve got all the equipment there because they train offshore firefighters.

“The guys basically wheeled their units over and rigged up hoses. They started to tackle the fire from a safe distance.

“When the police and the fire service arrived they continued to use the same water source and the team let the firefighters take over.

“They told the maritime team that their actions had saved the building.”

The eyewitness said staff at the firm were pleased with the trio’s actions.

She added: “I think everyone at Clyde Training Solutions was all really buzzing about it.

“The team are used to fighting fires onboard vessels and two of the team were ex Royal Navy but they had never done anything like this.

“Their training just kicked in which is really great. They were quite chuffed afterwards.”

Hassan Baig, director of Spice Direct, thanked the fire service and Clyde Training Solutions.

He told the Post their “timely response...limited the damage that could have been done”.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 7.28am on Saturday, July 24 to reports of a building on fire on Cable Depot Road, Clydebank.

“Operations Control mobilised three appliances to the scene and firefighters extinguished a fire affecting an industrial unit.

“Crews left the scene after ensuring the area was made safe and there were no reported casualties.”

Police enquiries into the incident are ongoing.