About 30 firefighters tackled a blaze at a first floor flat in Aberdeen city centre yesterday.
Fire crews were called to the incident at 59 Marischal Street after the alarm was raised around 2.20am.
The fire, which began in a cupboard space, forced 25 residents to flee the building, with two women suffering minor injuries.
No one had to be taken to hospital as a result of the incident.
Station Manager Graeme Goonan, who coordinated the rescue effort, said the fire had been a “complex incident” within a “complicated building”.
He added: “Due to the occupier of the flat realising her flat was on fire we were notified quite quickly, and the fire alarms went off which alerted other members of the building.
“Two persons required medical assistance on scene.”
The fire was contained to the first floor property, and residents were able to return to their homes yesterday afternoon.
However, Mr Goonan said damage to the affected flat was “quite severe”.
He added: “The rest of the building has quite bad smoke damage. There was also a commercial property on the ground floor which suffered some water damage.”
Five fire appliances were sent from Aberdeen Central, North Anderson Drive and Altens, along with height and incident support vehicles.
On arrival, crews made contact with residents on the upper floors, and advised them to remain in the building until the smoke travelling through the interior had cleared.
The fire was under control within half an hour.
Ten people were understood to have been evacuated with the help of firefighters, while a further 15 made their own way from the building.
Marischal Street was briefly closed by police to allow access for fire services.
An ambulance spokesman said: “The people had been evacuated by the time we arrived and were checked over.”
The fire and rescue service was yesterday investigating the cause of the fire, but police were not involved.
Mr Goonan added: “We have no reason to believe it’s suspicious or willful.”