Residents have banded together to offer shelter and support to staff whose “home and livelihood” were destroyed in the devastating fire at the Braemar Lodge Hotel.
Locals have been left “heartbroken and distraught” after the village’s iconic hotel burned to the ground on Wednesday following an explosion.
Eight fire crews rushed to the incident early in the morning as huge flames engulfed the Victorian building, with nearby residents fleeing their homes in fear and shock.
The seven guests and three staff members, who were inside the hotel when it caught fire, were safely evacuated uninjured. However, all of their belongings have been destroyed.
Aberdeenshire Council has now installed safety barriers around the hotel to seal off the premises for safety while an investigation is under way to establish the cause of the fire.
Initial reports from fire crews suggested a faulty fridge may have been the cause.
‘It was their livelihood and their home’
Danielle Irvine, who works at Farquharson’s Bar and Kitchen, said the tragic event has had a massive impact on the local community – with people doing everything they can to help those affected.
The 30-year-old said: “You can feel the sense of heartbreak throughout the whole village – especially with the locals and those who have played a part in the Braemar Lodge Hotel.
“It still feels very surreal – it’s heart-breaking to walk past it and just see that there is nothing left.
“All of the staff are distraught – it wasn’t just their job, it was their livelihood and their home.
“But the community has stepped up – we have the mountain sports shop offering clothes to everyone who worked there and has lost all of their personal belongings.
“We have people giving them rooms to stay, food and drink – just anything we can do to try and make them feel that we are here for them.
“It’s such a close-knit community here that when something like this happens, you just pull up your boots, put your jacket on and go and help out as much as you possibly can.”