Firefighters spent five hours tackling the blaze which began in the Caledonian Offset ventilation ducting last Tuesday afternoon.

A spokesman for the Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade said that the building was "smoke-logged" when fire crews arrived last Tuesday afternoon (25 May 2004), and that the firefighters had to use thermal image cameras to locate the fires.

The building had already been evacuated by the time the 4 crews, totalling 32 firefighters, arrived shortly before 5pm. No-one was hurt.

It is unclear whether production of the newspapers was affected by the blaze. Caledonian Offset declined to comment. Lothian and Borders Police said that no foul play was suspected.

The Scotsman and Caledonian Offset were unavailable for comment.