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Memsie fire: Still unsafe to investigate
Devastating: The fire destroyed the whole property including everything inside and much of the exterior of the building.
Police and fire investigators are still unable to enter a property that suffered a major fire last Friday.
The blaze that started at 1.30am took around 10 hours to distinguish, however the structure of the property and extensive damage has left it unsafe for investigators to enter.
Around 45 fire fighters attended the scene on Friday to tackle the blaze. Luckily no one was inside or was injured in the fire.
A neighbouring farm made the initial call to fire services at 1.21am and shortly after two fire engines arrived at the scene.
The fire fighters were immediately aware that the fire was too alight for just two engines so called for back up and four more engines arrived.
The fire services could not enter the house as it was well alight and had to tackle the blaze from the outside. Also a further problem occurred when the fire engines ran out of the 2500 litre supply of water in each vehicle. Specialist water carriers had to be brought in from Buckie and Turriff of 7000 litres each.
Grampian Fire Incident Commander Gordon Riddel said:
“We had 45 fire fighters deal with the fire over 9 hours and it was difficult with the conditions. Lack of water and having to put out the blaze from outside the property was difficult.
“There were no injuries sustained from the fire. The causes of the fire are still unknown at this stage.”
The owners of the property were locals although Witch Hill Cottage was not there permanent residence. The property was fully furnished was completely destroyed internally and the roof, walls and windows had crumbled or collapsed.
The steading at the back of the house was not affected by the fire.
Police have said they hope to start inquiries into the fire by the end of this week.
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Weather for Fraserburgh
Thursday 24 May 2012
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Temperature: 11 C to 15 C
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Wind direction: East
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