arry martin is the last firefighter to die in the line of duty after being fatally injured while fighting a massive fire at the jenners building in Edinburgh.
Martin, 38, was seriously injured on Monday while putting out a fire at the former department store and was taken to Edinburgh’s Royal Infirmary.
He was one of five firefighters taken to hospital, but he died on Friday. Police Scotland said.
More than a dozen firefighters have died on duty since 2005, according to the fire service Union of Fire Brigades (FBU).
The last Scottish firefighter to die in the line of duty was Ewan Williamson, whose death was described as “tragic and unacceptable” after he was killed fighting a fire in the cellar of an Edinburgh pub in July 2009 .
An FBU fatal accident report published in 2015 said the floor of the Balmoral bar on Dalry Road collapsed when the fire broke out shortly after midnight.
Residents of the apartment block above also had to be rescued: 15 adults, a child and a baby.
Mr Williamson became separated from his partner and trapped in a toilet as the fire spread to the basement and the ground floor collapsed, cutting off his means of escape.
He was exposed to the fire and extreme heat, lost consciousness and was pronounced dead at 3:20 am.
In July 2013, another firefighter was killed in a fire at a barbershop in Manchester.
Stephen Hunt38, was killed when he ran into trouble and collapsed at Paul’s Hair World in the city’s Northern Quarter.
An inquest later ruled that he was unlawfully killed by two 15-year-old girls who deliberately started the fire.
The girls claimed they had smoked and extinguished their cigarettes, but an expert fire investigator said the fire was likely started by a flaming pamphlet slid under the doorway and then lit a piece of cardboard in the shop.
They also took a selfie video admitting to starting the fire, which was shown to the jurors during the inquest.
A teenage witness also reported seeing one of the girls push a lit piece of paper through the door.
Founded in 1838, Jenners department store was one of the oldest department stores in the world when it closed in 2021.
The current A-listed building dates from 1895, after a fire destroyed the original.
Renovations are underway to convert it into a hotel backed by a company owned by fashion billionaire Anders Holch Povlsen.
At the peak of the blaze on Monday, which was reported at about 11:30am, 22 fire engines were dispatched to the Rose Street crime scene.
Witnesses saw how a soot-covered firefighter was helped out of the building by colleagues.
A total of six emergency workers were taken to hospital, five firefighters and one police officer.
Two firefighters were treated for burns, and a police officer and two firefighters for smoke inhalation. They have now been fired.