Fire threat remains in historic city
Although the blaze has now been brought under control, there were still pockets of fires burning within the complex network of business and residential properties in the area.
More than 80 firefighters were yesterday still tackling the flames, which damaged 13 premises and resulted in 150 people being evacuated from the area.
The fire started shortly before 8.15pm on Saturday night above a nightclub just off Cowgate and spread through the city's Old Town, which is a World Heritage Site.
Speaking at the scene, Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade's assistant fire master Del Simpson confirmed the fire was under control.
But he added: "There are pockets of fires burning throughout the buildings, but these pockets are deep-seated because a lot of debris has been falling on to the top of them so water is not getting to them.
"You may see flashes of flames but it is only pockets of fires burning at various levels.
"We have unaffected parts of Chambers Street and our priority is to put crews in there just in case you get high gusts of wind and it flashes up."
He added: "It is fair to say that we will be here I think for at least another two days.
"The problem is the deep-seated fires in some buildings and we can't get in because of the dangerous conditions, and I am not going to put firefighters at risk unnecessarily."
Paul Harrison, 47, from Edinburgh, said of one of the heavily damaged buildings: "From down at the bottom looking up you can see that the whole roof has gone.
"I was talking to the police and they were saying that structural engineers were talking about working out whether it was safe or whether they would have to pull down the buildings by the nightclub."
Mr Harrison, who has lived in Edinburgh for 28 years, said he was "shocked by the scale of the blaze in the Old Town".
He added: "There are a lot of historic buildings and a lot of history but at least it can be rebuilt. The most important thing is that lives weren't lost."
