Fire crews praised after hotel blaze

FIRE engines from across Caithness were called to the Castletown Hotel on Friday evening when a fire threatened to destroy the entire building.

Worried occupants were led outside when a blaze broke out in the lounge bar, filling a corridor full of smoke.

Something came down the chimney at around 7pm and "it escalated from there", owner Andrew Mackay said.

"Smoke was billowing and eventually flames so we had to evacuate. Fire was going up through the wall cavity and things could have been a lot worse if the rafters and roof space at the top had caught alight.

"The public and lounge bar areas are badly damaged and if it was not for the fantastic heroics of the fire brigade we would not have had any hotel left to call our own."

Yesterday 11 rooms remained closed off.

Mr Mackay said he "owed a great debt of gratitude" to the fire service for saving the building, which has just been given a three-star status by VisitScotland. "The fire brigade were amazing. It was totally brilliant how they all came together to tackle the blaze," he said.

"Firefighters from Thurso were first on the scene and they were the difference between isolating the fire to the bar and rooms above it to losing the majority of the hotel. It could have been very, very serious."

He also praised his staff for doing a "fantastic job" in evacuating the building.

"Luckily they had done an intensive course with Hellcat Training earlier this year who explained what to do in such a scenario. I cannot praise them more highly."

Fire and rescue services were alerted at 7.07pm.

A spokesman confirmed that there were no casualties and the crews left the scene at 10.14pm after ensuring the area was made safe.

There are no suspicious circumstances.