Three teenage boys have been charged in connection with an Aberdeenshire blaze that had crews working through the night.
The fire service responded to reports of part of the old Kingseat hospital going up in flames just after 7.30pm on Tuesday evening and fought the flames for around nine hours.
Police have confirmed three teenagers aged 18, 15 and 13 have been charged in connection with willful fireraising.
The 18-year-old will be reported to the procurator fiscal and the two younger boys will be reported to the youth justice management unit.
It comes a year after police issued a warning about young people starting fires in derelict buildings in the area.
Teams from the fire service returned to the scene of the fire on Marshall Mackenzie Road on Wednesday morning to assess the damage caused by the fire.
Crews were called back to the scene shortly before 3.30pm after police reportedly saw smoke coming from the building.
Two fire crews from Old Meldrum and Central Fire station returned to extinguish the reignited fire.
The stop message was received at 4.48pm.
The scale of the damage can be seen in photos from the scene, which appear to show the main structure of the property in tact and the roof burned away.
What residents have said?
Residents who lived nearby said that the sky was orange and there were flames almost 13ft high.
Emma Armstrong, 38, saw smoke first: “At around 7.50pm we noticed smoke and Stuart called it in. Quite often kids are playing around these buildings and stuff and the fire brigade come out but it never gets to that state.
“The fire brigade came at 8pm and it just looked like smoke from our side it didn’t look that bad, obviously smoke’s not good but no flames.”
“Then all of a sudden there was massive flames on the roof.”
Stuart Armstrong, 39, added: “In the past when there’s been fires, you’d get a little bit of smoke coming out of the building but this time there was pockets of smoke across the building.”
Victoria Walls, aged 24, said they could see the flames from their home: “There were still visible flames when I went to bed at around 1am. But prior to that you could see it coming out of the windows, out of the doors and things as well as the roof.
“We obviously didn’t want to go outside because we’re downwind of where it was. We thought we’d stay inside and not breathe it.
“I couldn’t actually see that the roof was gone until I found out this morning that it had collapsed.”
Jack Greene added: “If it wasn’t horrible it was pretty spectacular. Not what I expected to come home to.”
Aftermath of Kingseat fire
What happened in Kingseat?
The building that was on fire is part of the Kingseat hospital which dates back to 1904.
Two fire engines were initially sent to tackle the blaze but they called in extra support after realising how large the fire had grown.
A spokeswoman from the fire service said part of the building most affected is its roof.
Because of the layout of the old hospital buildings and the spaces between them, the fire is not believed to have damaged any other buildings.
The building is already fenced off as it is part of land that is due to be developed, but an additional cordon has been added to deter people from going too near the building after the fire.
