Praise for response to nursing home fire

LOCAL people and businesses were yesterday praised by Highland Council after they came to the aid of dozens of elderly people who were evacuated from a blazing nursing home on the outskirts of Inverness.

All 59 residents and 12 members of staff were safely evacuated from the Culloden Court nursing home in Murray Road, Smithton, on Monday night after a fire started in the two-storey building and quickly spread to the roof.

The residents of the home, operated by the Southern Cross Healthcare Group, were taken to an emergency reception centre set up at the local primary school before being transferred later in the night to temporary accommodation in a number of care homes in the area.

Councillor Margaret Davidson, the chair of the council's housing and social work committee, said: "We are all relieved and delighted that everyone is safe and sound.

"Social work and the emergency services all pulled together with care home staff, school and local people to ensure that people were looked after, and found alternative accommodation.

"It was a remarkable exercise."