Police confirm Banchory hospital fire was deliberate
More than 60 firefighters have worked through the night to bring it under control
Police have confirmed that a fire which destroyed a disused hospital in Banchory was started deliberately.
More than 60 firefighters have worked through the night to bring a large blaze at a derelict hospital building under control.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) was alerted to the blaze at the Glen O'Dee site in Banchory, Aberdeenshire, shortly before midnight on Thursday.
A total of 62 firefighters and 13 vehicles - nine appliances, one height vehicle and three water carriers - were dispatched to the scene to tackle the flames.
There were no casualties and a working hospital building nearby did not have to be evacuated, the service confirmed.
Firefighters remained at the scene on Friday morning, dampening down the area and checking for fire spread.
Detective Sergeant George Nixon said: "While the value of the damage has not yet been established this was a significant fire which has caused extensive destruction to a listed building.
"We are treating the fire as wilful and would appeal to anyone who saw anything unusual or suspicious in the area yesterday evening or has any information to contact police on 101 as soon as possible.
"This type of behaviour will absolutely not be tolerated. It goes without saying there is a significant risk of harm with such irresponsible behaviour."
SFRS incident commander Colin Grieve said: "There were challenging conditions but firefighters worked extremely hard to bring the fire under control and we are now scaling back our resources.''
Alexander Burnett, MSP for Aberdeenshire West, said: "These were clearly very difficult conditions for the fire crews, who have worked very hard to bring this blaze under control overnight.
"The most important thing is that it did not spread to nearby hospital buildings and that all the patients and staff were kept safe.
"Despite the fact that the building has been closed for some time, it has a significant history and the local community in Banchory and the surrounding area will be saddened to see it destroyed like this.
"I know that there have been a number of incidents at this site since the hospital closed, but we must await the outcome of the investigation before making any judgement on how this started and what should be done in future."