A man was taken to hospital by ambulance suffering from smoke inhalation following a fire in an Inverness flat yesterday morning.
And 39 homes in the area lost their electricity supply following the incident at 16 Drummond Road.
A fire service spokes-woman said two appliances from Inverness attended the outbreak, which was reported shortly before midday and brought under control before 12.45pm.
She said: “The fire, which was in a stairway, was extinguished before firefighters arrived.
“Firefighters administered oxygen to the man, who was suffering from smoke inhalation, until the ambulance arrived. He was then taken to hospital as a precaution.”
She added that the fire destroyed an electrical fuse box in the flat and caused 5% fire damage and 20% smoke damage to the stairwell.
An ambulance service spokeswoman confirmed that one person was taken to the city’s Raigmore Hospital suffering from smoke inhalation. She could not comment on his condition.
Energy company SSE last night said they were alerted to the incident in Drummond Road.
A spokesman said: “Engineers isolated the supply at midday, which affected 39 customers in Glenburn Drive.
“The majority were back on by 2pm, with the remaining three customers being back on by 4pm.”
He explained that the fire caused damage to the electricity supply and repairs had to be carried out before power could be restored to the final three homes.