Wildfire tears across hillside near north-east hostel

Fire crews have extinguished a blaze which broke out on a north-east hillside tonight.

Firefighters from Portsoy and Cullen were called to a patch of ground near the Sail Loft hostel, to the east of Portsoy, at about 8.20pm.

Flames had torn through shrubbery and sent smoke billowing along the coastline.

A spokeswoman for the fire service confirmed that the team spent almost an hour battling the blaze before reporting that it had been put out.

The crews remained at the scene until 9.45pm dampening down the affected area.