Wall collapse in Ayr

Fire Crews are currently in attendance at South Harbour Street in Ayr following the collapse of an elevated retaining wall into a car park area some 30 feet below the structure.

Firefighters from Ayr, Kilmarnock, Bellshill and Easterhouse community fire stations were mobilised to the scene shortly before 6 o'clock this evening and immediately set about making the immediate area safe prior to commencing search operations using the specialist equipment carried on the attending Heavy Rescue and Major Incident vehicles which had been despatched to the scene by Strathclyde Fire & Rescue's Control Centre in Johnstone.

Fire crews utilised sounding devices to check for casualties and were assisted in this task by the attendance of their partner agency, Trossachs Search and Rescue, who deployed their trained rescue dogs on site to confirm the service's belief that there had been no casualties as a consequence of the collapsed structure.

The Fire Service have also been assisted greatly by the Police who have closed off the immediate area to traffic and by the local councils building department who have provided and erected temporary fencing to ensure that there is no public encroachment within the hazard area.

Strathclyde Fire & Rescue will remain in attendance until they can categorically confirm that there are no casualties at the location and the incident can be handed over to the relevant agencies.

There is no further information available at this time.