FIREFIGHTERS took more than an hour to reach a burning house in the west Highlands because of a shortage of staff.

The one-and-a-half-storey home in Lochaber on the Ardnamurchan peninsula was left blazing for over an hour because the two closest stations at Kilchoan and Acharacle were unavailable to respond due to a lack of firefighters.

The incident was reported at around 12:06pm on Thursday and the fire crew arrived on the scene at 1:17pm.

Crew from Strontian fire station, which is over 28 miles away, had to rush through blizzard conditions to reach the fire which had almost completely destroyed the house by the time they arrived.

The firefighters had to call for assistance and appliances from Fort William and Mallaig arrived to help but the home could not be saved and all that remained once the fire had been put out was the burnt exterior.

Home owner Mary Khan, 77, is a director of the local community centre and was not at her home when the fire started.

She did not wish to comment however a neighbour said: "It must be devastating for her, particularly at this time of year.

"I'm just pleased that she and her pets are okay."

The Fire Service group manager for the area Phil Green said: "The weather was atrocious. Snow and ice presented significant risk to responding crews who had to drive through blizzard conditions, accompanied by thunder and lightning.

"This meant the crews were forced to drive according to the poor conditions and undoubtedly slowed down their arrival time.

"When the first crews arrived, the fire in the roof had spread throughout the property due to high winds.

"Crews worked in difficult weather conditions and managed to extinguish the fire."

Commenting on the shortage of firefighters Mr Green said: "This highlights how crucial it is that our communities support the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and sign up to become retained firefighters."

Councillor for Fort William and Ardnamurchan Andrew Baxter said: "I understand the problems the fire service has recruiting retained firefighters right across the Highlands and particularly in rural areas.

"I don't think we can blame the fire service for that as it is doing all it can to recruit additional people, but it is unfortunate if it was an underlying cause in the problems with getting to this particular fire in time."

The case is currently being investigated.