Firefighters are still at the scene of a house fire in Stonehaven.
Four fire crews and two specialist units were called to the town’s Redcloak Crescent at about 7pm.
It is understood they had to break down the door to tackle the fire, which they managed to extinguish by 8pm.
It is not thought anyone was in the property at the time.
Police and ambulance crews are also in attendance.
One neighbour said: “It seems like the fire is out now, but the firefighters are still going in and out with their breathing apparatus on.
“It must have broken out about 7pm, I just turned around and thought to myself it was getting dark quick, but it was the smoke in the back garden, the flames were coming out the living room of the house.”
A fire service spokeswoman said: “We’re still there, but the stop message came back about 8pm. We got the call just after 7pm.
“We had one jet, one hose reel jet and four breathing apparatus in use.”
She added crews in attendance had come from Stonehaven and Aberdeen.