POLICE and the fire brigade were last night investigating what they fear was a fatal house fire in a picturesque north-east village.
Emergency services were called to Crovie after members of the public saw thick smoke pouring from a seafront cottage. Nearly 20 firefighters were drafted in from Macduff, Banff, Fraserburgh and Peterhead to tackle the blaze.
But they were unable to search inside the property before its roof collapsed. It was feared someone may have been trapped inside the burning house. The fire service said it was unlikely crews would be able to get inside the cottage to carry out a search until this morning.
A large section of the conservation village was cordoned off by the police while the crews battled the flames, using water pumped from the sea.
A water carrier was also sent to the village from Turriff, along with an incident support vehicle.
Crews were told to prepare to work through the night.
Speaking at the scene, Sergeant Colin Houston said: “By the time the fire service personnel arrived, the property was well ablaze. At this stage, we really don’t know if someone was in the house at the time. It may be some time before we can get inside to check.
“A joint investigation between the police and the fire service will be carried out.”
The alarm was raised at about 7pm, and crews managed to extinguish the flames by 9.40pm.
Most of the houses in Crovie are used as holiday homes. Police said that tourists staying in the area would be interviewed as part of their inquiries.
The fire was the latest on the Banff and Buchan coast. An abandoned house in Macduff was completely destroyed last week.
Almost 50 firefighters fought the blaze at the property at Braeheads, which left the building a burned-out shell.
Police are treating last week’s incident as suspicious, as well as a blaze at a nearby storage yard in Mill Street which caused nearly £200,000 of damage to nets, tyres and fishing gear.
Earlier this week, images of Crovie were shown to more than 600 people – including First Minister Alex Salmond – during a special screening of the short film Whistle My Lad, which was filmed in the area.
The village, which sits at the base of cliffs on the east side of Gamrie Bay, near Gardenstown, became an established fishing port in the late 18th century.
The pier was built in 1884 by the Fisheries Board of Scotland, and by the end of the 19th century about 50 owner-operated fishing boats were based at the village. Although numbers fell by the 20th century, the pretty village has become popular with visitors.