A FAULTY clothes drier may have caused a major blaze at a north-east hotel, it emerged last night.
More than 20 guests and staff were forced to flee when fire broke out in the basement of the Waverley Hotel in the centre of Peterhead.
One man was trapped in an upstairs bedroom and firefighters had to help him to safety.
The cause of the fire is now being probed, although the incident is not being treated as suspicious.
Investigators were examining the theory last night that the blaze was triggered by an electrical fault in a clothes-drying area of the basement.
Emergency services were called to the hotel in Merchant Street just after 4am.
More than 30 firefighters spent about an hour bringing the blaze under control.
A cleaner is understood to have spotted flames in the downstairs laundry room and alerted the rest of the hotel.
Six fire service teams from Peterhead, Maud, Ellon and Fraserburgh attended at the scene and had brought the blaze under control by 5.15am. The fire was confined to the basement but thick, black smoke caused extensive damage throughout the building.
A statement from hotel bosses said last night that the venue would be closed for the time being – but they were unable to say when it might reopen.
Speaking at the scene, fire service station manager Graeme Goonan said most rooms had been left blackened by smoke.
He added that the fire was “well developed” by the time the crews arrived.
“There were about 20 guests and they were all able to make their way out OK,” he said. “But we saw this one remaining guest at a window on the top floor.
“We spoke with him to calm him down. We reassured him that we would be able to have the building partially vented, which would allow us to take him down the inside stairs.”
Mr Goonan said it would have been too risky to use a ladder to carry the guest down.
The man, named locally as 25-year-old Ross Lumsden, was taken to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary but released later in the day after treatment for smoke inhalation.
Firefighters checked the rest of the 10-bedroom building to ensure all other visitors and employees had been accounted for.
It is understood that most of the people staying at the hotel were construction workers. They were offered alternative accommodation at other local hotels.
Onlookers said the street filled with smoke at the height of the blaze. Hotel owner Stewart Aiken declined to comment when he arrived on the scene to inspect the damage. He spoke to staff who had arrived for their morning shift.
Mr Aiken took on the hotel – previously known as St Andrew’s – in 2005.
It is understood the hotel, which is particularly popular for Sunday lunches, had been redecorated earlier this year.
Police cordoned off part of St Andrew’s Street around the building for most of the morning, while fire investigators began searching the building. The road was cleared in the afternoon.
A police spokesman confirmed that the force was not involved in the investigation.