Fire at derelict Glen Coe property

The fire broke out at the Allt-Na-Reigh property on the afternoon of Saturday February 8 and heavily damaged an outbuilding at the property. The blaze caused the temporary closure of the A82 between Tyndrum and Ballachulish Bridge.

No cause has yet been given for the cause of the fire.

Speaking of the fire, a spokesperson for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were alerted at 5.36pm on Saturday, February 8, to reports of a building fire at Allt-Na-Reigh in Glencoe.

“Operations Control mobilised three appliances to the scene and firefighters extinguished a fire affecting a shed next to a derelict dwelling house.

“There were no reported casualties and crews left the scene at 2.13am the following morning, after ensuring the area was made safe.

 "An investigation is ongoing to establish the full facts and circumstances behind the fire.”

Owned by the family of retail business boss Harris Aslam since 2021, Allt-Na-Reigh was built around 1890 and was lived in by Dr MacInnes from 1961 to 1987.

Nicknamed ‘The Fox of Glencoe’, Dr MacInnes invented the world’s first metal-shafted ice axe and worked on the mountain rescue stretcher that bears his name whilst living in the property.

Savile took ownership of the property in 1998. He died in 2011, the year before the police’s Operation Yewtree revealed extensive paedophile and sex offences.

Allt-Na-Reigh’s association with Savile has led to cases of vandalism at the property. Approval to demolish the home was given to its owners by Highland Council in June, with the current property to be replaced by a one-and-a-half storey house named in Dr MacInnes’s honour.