An investigation into the cause of a massive blaze at a north-east farm is expected to begin today.
Forty firefighters from across Aberdeenshire were sent to Palace Farm in Gamrie on Monday morning to tackle a blaze that had taken hold of outbuildings.
However, there were heightened concerns after crew members spotted the presence of a number of gas cylinders within the property.
It prompted a road closure which lasted into yesterday morning on routes leading to the site.
Yesterday, smoke could still be seen billowing from the remains of the property while firefighters continued to dampen the scene.
A spokeswoman for the fire service confirmed they would remain at the farm until investigators moved in.
They are expected to be on the scene today.
She added: “We still have an appliance on scene dampening down.
“There will be a fire investigation taking place in due course.
“We had nine appliances at its height which would be around 40 firefighters.”
The fire had been spotted shortly after 11am on Monday morning.
At the time, a nearby neighbour described seeing black smoke fill the sky and hearing loud “bangs” from the farm.
He speculated that oil could have been present within the shed.
And he added: “The whole place was black. I don’t know if it was oil or gas causing it, but I saw the fire service go past with a couple of specialist units.
“There were a couple of bangs as well, little pops all the time.
“I haven’t been up to see the damage yet. We don’t usually get things like this happening.”
Police had attended the fire to support fire crews in the task of diverting traffic away from the farm.
They were stood down at 6.30pm on Monday.
Last night, the owners of the farm, Scott and Jennifer Duncan, were unavailable to comment.
Local councillor Hamish Partridge branded the blaze “devastating”.
