[AlanG]

From Courier

Musician in fire horror

By Graeme Strachan

A PROMISING Dundee musician’s career was hanging in the balance last night after he suffered severe burns to his arms and hands during a breakfast time blaze.

Christopher Guyan (21) was in a serious condition in Ninewells Hospital after waking up in a burning bed to discover the first floor of his family home was ablaze and the flames were spreading.

He was trapped with his brother Grant (20) who managed to climb out of his bedroom window and scaled his way down the rear of the house at the corner of Clepington Road and Forfar Road, suffering only minor injuries. Christopher—a music student who plays guitar in local band Hellbound—was unable to get to the window of his brother’s adjoining bedroom and ran downstairs in blind panic with his hair and body on fire.

His parents, Bill and Liz Guyan, last night said they were praying Christopher makes a full recovery and is able to play the guitar again.

“I was in the throes of getting dressed when Christopher ran downstairs with his hair on fire,” said Mrs Guyan.

She had been alerted to the blaze seconds earlier when the smoke detector activated.

“He’d woken up with his bed on fire. His body was badly burnt and he was hysterical.

“Christopher’s arms and hands have been badly burned and his hair’s been cut off. It’s going to take a couple of months until he’s out of the woods.

“It’s like a bad dream. I haven’t come to terms with it yet.”

Mr Guyan, who was at work at the time, said, “He’s a guitarist in a band. Music is his life. We’re just praying he’s okay and hoping beyond hope that he can play again.”

Younger brother Grant, a store assistant at B&Q in Kingsway East, has been detained in a short stay ward at Ninwells Hospital with minor injuries.

“He’s got very slight injuries, smoke inhalation and cuts and bruises,” said Mrs Guyan. “Grant was in the adjoining bedroom and got out the window and on to the roof.

“Christopher was thinking about his brother and tried to get into his room. He got into his brother’s room and if he’d also got to the window he might have escaped serious injury. But the smoke was too thick and he was in a blind panic, so he turned back, ran through his room and downstairs.”

Mrs Guyan said a smouldering cigarette butt had caused the fire.

Mr and Mrs Guyan paid tribute to the passers-by who helped Grant down from the roof and praised the efforts of emergency services and hospital staff.

A spokeswoman for NHS Tayside said, “The condition of one brother is comfortable but the other is serious.”

It is believed Christopher will be transferred to a specialist burns unit.

The fire was described as a “very serious” incident by assistant divisional fire officer Ron Massie, who confirmed it would now be the subject of a thorough investigation.