A woman has died in a house fire in an Inverness-shire village.
The senior citizen and two men were in the property at County Houses in Lochend when the blaze broke out.
Paramedics treated the woman at the scene but she died later.
Yesterday, she was named locally as 68-year-old Sandra Barton.
Residents in Lochend paid tribute to her.
A neighbour said: “She was like the kind of granny that anybody would have wanted.
“She had time for everybody and would stop for a chat with anybody.
“It’s such a tragic accident.”
Yesterday damage was visible to the upstairs windows and roof of the semi-detached house.
The fire started on the first floor of the building and firefighters were able to extinguish the blaze using hosereel jets.
Crews remained on the scene damping down the house and cutting away the affected area.
The area was experiencing a power cut when the fire happened and it is thought that the woman may have been using candles to light the house.
The fire service has confirmed that an investigation into the cause of the blaze is ongoing.
A witness described the incident “terrifying”.
He said: “There was flames bursting out the windows. It was obviously very serious.
“The firefighters were struggling to get to it because there wasn’t a fire hydrant near enough.
“It all happened so quickly, I’ve never seen anything like it at all.”
Residents in the street said that a team of forensics investigators visited the house on Saturday.
A Scottish Fire and Rescue spokesman said that three fire crews from Inverness were sent to the incident. The blaze started around 9.15pm on Friday.
He added: “Firefighters on arrival found a fire in the first floor of a two-storey semi-detached dwelling house with one female and two males on scene.
“One female casualty was placed in the care of the ambulance service and she was taken to hospital after being assessed by paramedics.
“A total of six firefighters wearing breathing apparatus were within the property to locate and extinguish the fire and prevent further fire spread to the adjoining property.
“The fire was extinguished at 9.57pm using hosereel jets, however, crews remained on the scene damping down and cutting away the affected area.
“An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.”
