A renewed call has gone out from emergency services and councillors pleading with people to stop putting their lives at risk by entering the former Interfloor factory.
Scottish Fire and Rescue crews were called out at 6pm on Saturday after smoke was spotted billowing out of part of the historic building.
A spokesperson for the SFRS said: “Derelict properties pose a number of risks to individuals and we would urge people to stay away.”
The former Arrol Johnston site on Edinburgh Road has been abandoned for years and has become a target for vandals who have broken in to set fires and break windows.
The council is “in the process” of arranging repairs to security fencing surrounding the site which had been breached before the blaze.
Lochar ward councillor Ivor Hyslop said: “You don’t know what damage the fire has caused. If you go in there could be structural weakness.
“It’s a concrete building and heat can expand the reinforcement rods and it could crack the main concrete beams so you’ve got to watch out there’s nothing that could fall on top of you.”
There have been growing calls for the building to be demolished in recent years from locals who are tired of repeated fire-raising on the site. But, due to its listed status, demolishing the building isn’t a simple option.
Councillor Hyslop said: “It’s an eyesore and it needs to be removed.
“The big problem is we don’t have a use for it. Compulsory purchase rules used to say you had to have a use for a site.
“We don’t so a compulsory purchase wouldn’t be an option at this stage.
“Safety-wise if it’s going to cause problems we should be recharging the current owners to get money out of them to make it safe.
“You’d have to get it through planning and because it’s listed that would be called in by the Scottish Government or Historic Environment Scotland and it would be up to them to see what they wanted to do.
“But I know there’s support out there from MSPs as well that we need to do something with the building. Hopefully that will help if it goes up the road to Scottish Government ministers.”
South Scotland SNP MSP Emma Harper, who has been campaigning to see abandoned and derelict sites transformed into community assets, is set to lead a members debate in the Scottish Parliament next month.
Ms Harper launched a petition recently calling on the council to take “immediate and effective action” to address the site.
She said: “The reason it is so important to address these sites is because research shows vacant and derelict sites can harm the wellbeing of communities.
“The findings show these sites can contribute to negative mental health, feelings of a lack of safety, and vacant and derelict sites can contribute to anxiety and a persistent low mood.
“I look forward to leading this debate, but in the meantime I will continue to do all I can to see action taken to turn these sites into assets for our communities.”
