Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Community shock as fire devastates Fort William outdoor nursery yurts

Stramash outdoor nursery 'castle' before the blaze which destroyed it
Stramash outdoor nursery 'castle' before the blaze which destroyed it

A nursery community in Fort William has been left shocked and upset after an outdoor wooden structure used by pre-schoolers for learning and play was reduced to cinders overnight.

Stramash outdoor nursery’s ‘castle’ of hand-built wooden yurts with turf roofs and surrounding play structures went up in flames at around 11.30pm on Sunday.

Two fire crews from Fort William tackled the blaze at Inverlochy Mains, North Road, with jet hoses until the small hours, with a crew from Acharacle returning in the morning to check the site which had partially reignited.


>> Keep up to date with the latest news with The P&J newsletter


Police officers attended to support the fire crews and said yesterday there was no need for any further police involvement.

The fire was finally extinguished around 11.30 yesterday morning.

Team leader Cameron Sprague, 36, was alerted to the blaze by police at around midnight on Sunday.

He rushed to the scene and was there until after 2am.

He praised the emergency services for their ‘amazing, professional and compassionate’ response and said it had been emotional time.

He said: “I didn’t get much sleep as I had to ring round all the parents.

“Everyone’s upset, but parents have been so supportive, coming in, bringing food and checking we’re OK.

The nursery before the fire.

“Everything is completely gone and the insurance process is underway to replace all the cushions, sleeping bags and other equipment.

“We are treating it as an act of God, as the fire service have been clear that there will be no investigation as there is nothing there to identify what could have happened.”

Stramash has 68 children aged between two and five.

On social media parents shared their heartbreak.

One said: “My kids are devastated. I feel for the staff, they put their heart and soul into building stuff for the kids.”

Mr Sprague said nursery would resume today with a minibus outing, and a clean-up would follow.

Jess Greenhill of Stramash Social Enterprise which also runs outdoor nurseries in Oban, Elgin and Tornagrain said: “We are putting together considered arrangements for a temporary welfare shelter for the children outdoors.

“The Care Inspectorate remain fully informed in regards to our high quality care provision and we will continue to update them on developments.

“Whilst this is a shock to us all and a bitter disappointment after the work and care that has gone into these buildings, we are so grateful for the support and many offers of help from our community of parents and friends.

“Stramash Fort William is open for business and determined to build an even better nursery space for our children.

“We are in the process of setting up a ‘Just Giving’ page for those who wish to support us further, for more information and updates please visit our website stramash.org.uk.”