Fire destroys former Inverness hospital
A FORMER Inverness hospital has been destroyed after a fire broke out last night.
The blaze at Dunain House, off the A82 in the Leachkin area of the city, broke out at 10.30pm on Wednesday.
Three fire crews from the Scottish Fire and Rescue service in Inverness rushed to the scene. They used an aerial ladder platform and a water bowser. They were later joined by crews from Beauly, Drumnadrochit and Dingwall.
The derelict building, constructed in the mid-18th century, had been part of Craig Dunain Hospital in Leachkin.
Incident Commander, Group Manager John MacDonald, who was at the scene and said: "On arrival the crews were faced with a well-developed fire. It appeared to have been burning for some time prior to our arrival, but that was probably due to the fact it was difficult to see due to thick fog last night."The fire was split into two operational sectors and due to the instability of the building we fought the fire from the outside. We used the aerial platform and its large water monitor to attack the fire from above and used four main jets on the ground."The fire was brought under control by around 4am. The building suffered a complete collapse of the roof and internal walls."He added: "Crews remain at the scene and due to the unstable nature of the building we are carrying out damping down operations externally. We are likely to be at the scene for most of the day today."I would like to pay tribute to the attending crews who worked tirelessly through the night to bring the incident under control and ultimately to a safe conclusion."A joint investigation with Police Scotland will now be carried out into the cause of the fire.
A spokeswoman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “Fire crews are still in attendance today damping down the site of the blaze.”
There were no casualties or injuries.