Fisherman in hospital after fire on board boat in Scalloway harbour

Firefighters were called to a blaze on board a fishing vessel berthed at Scalloway harbour last night which ended with a casualty being taken to hospital.

The call was made to the emergency services at around 9.15pm, alerting them to the fire on the Peterhead-registered Our Guide, the newest boat the join the local fleet.

The fire took hold in the galley area and is understood to have started in an oven. It was extinguished by one fire crew from Scalloway and two from Lerwick, using two hose-reel jets and four sets of breathing apparatus. A thermal imaging heat-seeking camera was also used. The blaze was out by 10.45pm.

A spokeswoman for the fire service said the galley was fire-damaged and the rest of the boat smoke-damaged.

The 23.7 metre whitefish boat arrived in Shetland earlier this month and is set to replace the Burra boat Quiet Waters when it is sold. Two Ghanian crew members live aboard but are understood not to have been on the vessel at the time of the fire.

A spokeswoman for the Gilbert Bain Hospital said a fisherman had been admitted to hospital last night suffering from smoke inhalation and was in a “comfortable” condition.