Two men were rescued from their homes and a chip shop almost burned down during a spate of fires across the north.
Firefighters battled four separate blazes in the Highlands yesterday – with two men helped from their houses and treated by paramedics in Wick and Alness.
The Avoch Chippy was also gutted yesterday after a fire broke out in the kitchen area of the popular Black Isle takeaway.
Owner Darren Oman was “gutted” but vowed to work to rebuild the business after watching it go up in smoke.
And a car was completely destroyed in another blaze near Culloden Battlefield.
Three fire crews from Inverness and Fortrose were called to Avoch at 12.20pm after a blaze took hold in the kitchen area of the chip shop.
The main road through the village was closed as they used hosereel jets, a dry foam extinguisher, breathing equipment and thermal imaging cameras to tackle the fire.
A fryer was destroyed and the rest of the property had suffered extensive smoke damaged by the time it was extinguished by 1.56pm.
Mr Oman was on the scene as the firefighters worked to save what they could of the takeaway.
One witness said: “I asked him what he was going to do now and he just said he would start again. He’s built it up once.
“He’s obviously gutted. It must be dreadful to see your livelihood go up like that but he’s obviously got some fighting spirit.”
Firefighters had earlier been called to a single-storey property in Henrietta Street in Wick at about 12.45am on Sunday.
One man was helped from the scene and transferred into the care of the ambulance service.
Two fire crews from Wick attended at the scene.
The blaze was contained to the kitchen of the property, but it was badly smoke damaged.
Two hours later Ross-shire fire crews were called to a similar incident when a fire broke out in the kitchen of a house in the Kirkside area of Alness.
The fire was reported at 2.42am and two crews from Dingwall attended at the scene.
The fire service spokeswoman confirmed that a male casualty had been removed and was passed into the care of the ambulance service.
Crews used hosereel jets and breathing equipment and had the fire extinguished by 3.17am.
Firefighters from Inverness were also called to reports of a car on fire at a lay-by near the Culloden Moor Inn.
A crew from Inverness attended at the scene at 1.15am and used jets and breathing equipment to extinguish the fire.
The car was completely destroyed by the blaze.
