A Caithness businessman has spoken of his devastation after seeing his family-run firm’s processing plant reduced to a shell by fire.
Reports of the blaze at the plant at Scrabster Harbour were received shortly after 5pm on Sunday.
William Calder raced to Scrabster Seafoods building after learning of the disaster while at home at a family function.
He described how attempted to gain entry to the building – but the thick, billowing smoke and huge flames prevented him.
He said: “There’s obviously been a lot of damage caused – the roof is holed and the inside is gutted.
“We’re just relieved there was no-one in the premises at the time.”
Crews faced very challenging conditions in Scrabster this evening. Exceptional levels of commitment and professionalism prevented the total loss of the building. @fire_scot @policescotland pic.twitter.com/IHK06vAt9p
— Jason Gardiner (@gardengates12) August 5, 2019
Tonnes of lobsters, crab and white fish were lost in the blaze, which firefighters took 10 hours to bring under control.
Due to the fire, the firm confirmed they were yesterday operating on a limited basis from their old premises to ensure their supply to local businesses is maintained, with their fleet of fish vans operating on a normal basis.
Mr Calder added: “It’s been a bit surreal and everybody is a bit devastated by what has happened.
“There’s going to be a lot of hard work to get things back to where they were but we have a lot of staff to think of to make sure their jobs are secured.
“We have limited capacity just now but we’re working on getting contingency plans into place so we can replace the capacity. It will take a week or two from getting that in place.”
The plant was purpose-built by Scrabster Seafoods 14 years ago during a period of significant investment from the company.
The firm, which was founded in 1968 by Mr Calder’s father Willie, presently employs around 40 people, with produce distributed as far wide as China.
In total seven fire appliances attended the scene, with thick black smoke billowing from the roof as flames roared to the full height of the building.
Two crews from Thurso and two from Wick were joined by single crews from Helmsdale and John O’Groats, where they remained on scene until the small hours of yesterday.
They were assisted by an aerial ladder platform from Inverness.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, with investigators involved yesterday to establish just what may have caused the building to go up in flames.
Fire service group manager Niall MacLennan, who was the incident commander on scene, said: “This was a large and challenging fire, which caused significant damage to a business premise.
“However, our crews worked hard with their partners to bring this to a safe conclusion – I thank them for their efforts.”
Firefighters briefly returned to the scene at 7.15am yesterday to manage a small flare-up, after previously departing around 3am.
