A large-scale wildfire came perilously close to homes on the Black Isle yesterday as dozens of firefighters battled on into the night to keep it at bay.
Forty firefighters spent hours at the scene as worried locals kept watch on the hillside blaze near Kilmuir.
A large plume of smoke could be seen from Inverness and around the Moray Firth throughout most of the afternoon and evening, after the fire broke out at about 3pm.
No homeowners were forced to evacuate their properties – but the flames came within yards of at least two detached homes in the area.
One resident, Kenneth Mackenzie, was away from his house at the time but had to rush home after his sister spotted the fire while checking on her animals.
Yesterday while standing not far from the scene, Katie Mackenzie said: “My brother lives in a house round the back of the trees and the fear is that it (the fire) is spreading in this direction.
“I called the fire brigade initially. I came over to check on the cows and sheep, as I rent the land there, and there was a massive plume of smoke.”
The fire service were first called at around 3.30pm yesterday afternoon and fought the blaze on two separate fronts.
Crews from Inverness, Nairn, Drumnadrochit and Beauly attended and used main jets, hosereel jets and beaters to tackle the fire at the top of a track at Craigie Home, near Kilmuir.
They were later joined by an Argo cat specialist wildfire unit from Inverness.
Police vehicles and fire officers’ cars were also in attendance and an ambulance crew were on standby.
Red tape was put up in the afternoon between a tree and a fence post at the foot of the brae.
At about 5pm last night, firefighters had successfully reduced the size of the fire and were dealing with various pockets of fire in the wooded area.
At about 7pm last night, a fire service spokesman said that crews were still “fully committed to tackling the flames but were “making good progress.”
The spokesman added that it was thought the fire started due to a combination of dry and windy conditions, refuting any speculation that it began due to the burning of waste in the area.
Elsewhere, fire crews finally left the scene of another large fire in Sutherland more than 24 hours after it was first reported to them.
Firefighters left the scene at Lubcroy, near Oykel Bridge, at around 11.25pm on Monday.
They were first called to the fire at 9.50pm on Sunday.
A spokeswoman for the fire service said the fire had stretched over a front of about more than 1.5 miles and had been divided into two separate fronts.
Several fire crews were involved over the course of the operation and only left the scene after a thorough check for any hotspots.
The nearby A837 Invershin to Lochinver road was closed at points during the wildfire due to concerns about it spreading.
