The owner of a former Aberdeenshire hotel destroyed in a fire yesterday described the building as “doomed”.
About 40 firefighters were called to Torryburn Hotel in Kintore at about 11.30pm on Monday, and worked for five hours to extinguish the flames.
The building has been left a burnt out shell, with charred beams sticking out where the roof once was.
An investigation has now been launched into the cause of the blaze, which police are treating as suspicious.
It is the second fire at the derelict property in two years, with the first happening when it was on the market.
In 2013, Fochabers-based firm Bob Milton Properties bought the damaged Georgian building and revealed plans to redevelop the site.
Yesterday Mr (Bob)Milton said he would be travelling to Kintore over the coming days to see the damage for himself, and to ensure the site was secured.
He said: “It’s doomed.
“We were going to develop it and get the demolition done last year but our workload didn’t allow for us.
“The damage seems quite extensive from what CID have said. By the sounds of it there’s not much left. It’s annoying to say the least, as there were things inside I hoped to get out it, like the original furniture.”
Mr Milton added he still had plans to redevelop the site for residential use, subject to planning, in the future.
“We were always planning to knock it down and start again,” he said.
When fire crews arrived at the hotel on Monday, flames were coming through the roof.
Crews from Dyce, Inverurie, Oldmeldrum, Kintore and Aberdeen attended the scene, along with an aerial rescue platform and other specialist units from Huntly, Altens, Turriff and Stonehaven.
The fire service’s group manager Fraser Burr said: “Crews were faced with a very intense, well-established fire when they arrived.
“On this occasion we were forced to fight the fire from outside due to the intensity of the fire as well as the condition of the building on the inside.
“We used an aerial ladder to apply water from above the fire which quickly had the desired effect of knocking the flames down.”
At the scene yesterday, police sealed off the entrance to the car park with the fire investigation unit could be seen at work.
Police tape went around the building, and fire crews used an aerial platform to cool down hot spots from above during the morning.