A Nairn bungalow was extensively damaged in a fire yesterday, with a neighbour describing how a “ball of flame” erupted and sent black smoke billowing across several streets.
Two firefighters braved “raging flames” to enter the building on Woodside Crescent to ensure no-one was trapped inside.
Fire crews from Nairn were joined by colleagues from Inverness in tackling the blaze on the west side of the resort.
The alarm was raised at 12.10pm. Four appliances attended along with an ambulance crew and police.
The property was understood to have been empty at the time the fire broke out although a local resident believed the owner had been inside the bungalow a short time beforehand.
Retired oil industry welder Gordon Veitch, 73, who lives opposite, was in his garden at the time.
He said: “The volume of smoke was absolutely atrocious and then the flames were leaping out. There was a solid ball of flames three or four feet off the roof.
“At first I thought maybe he was burning something out in the garden that had gone out of control. By that time there was black smoke everywhere.
“One of our neighbours ran back in to call the fire service. I ran round to the house, by that time it was just black smoke. It was getting ferocious.
“We had thought of breaking through a window, but you’d get a fire ball coming out at you and we’d risk getting burned. Two firefighters went in when it was really raging.”
There were concerns for an adjoining bungalow, but it is understood fire crews using a jet hose-reel managed to contain the damage to one home.
They continued to hose down the roofs of the properties for some time after the smoke had died down.
The cause of the fire is being investigated but it is thought to have emanated from the kitchen.