A Ross-shire garage has been destroyed following a large blaze.
Firefighters were called to Fearndrome Garage, west of Balintore, just after 12.15pm today.
Crews from Invergordon, Dornoch and Golspie were sent to the scene at Fearn Industrial Estate and used three jets to tackle the flames.
Firefighters were able to bring the flames under control in under two hours.
A cordon was placed around the building as crews dampened down the hotspots.
Footage captured at the height of the fire shows flames and large plumes of smoke coming from the industrial state.
Pictures taken at the scene show the charred remains of a steel building on the industrial estate, located on the B9166 road to Fearn.
It is understood that one car and one van were inside the building when it caught fire, with employees able to escape the flames unharmed.
‘The flames were huge’
Jackie Vass, who lives nearby, saw the flames rising from the building from across the main road.
He said: “The flames were huge you just saw the building on fire and black smoke as well”.
One witness, who had his car booked in for a repair, was alerted while at work and decided to come down to check on his car.
He said: “I always come to this garage the guy is really reliable and it works well with my job as I work close by in Nigg.”
Another eyewitness, who also gets his car serviced there, said it was a “real shame.”
He said: “They do a grand job on my car so it’s sad to see this happen.”
Following the fire, the incident commander on scene said that fire spread for a the wood pile to several nearby oil drums which when ruptured caused a “loud bang”.
He said: “Once it spread to the oil drums there was nothing the owner could do.”
His crew remained on scene until just after 6pm to make sure all the hotspots had been extinguished and to make sure there was no radiant heat still trapped in the structure, given the warm temperatures.
The final appliance left the scene at 6pm.
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