Blairgowrie residents and the emergency services have been praised for their response to a major incident in the Police Scotland town last week.
The alarm was raised just after 7pm on Friday, October 28 after a fire broke out at Blair’s Laundry and Dry Cleaners on the corner of Emma Street and Arthur Street.
Eyewitnesses reported a large explosion as the fire engulfed the Blairgowrie business.
Nine fire appliances were deployed to the site. Perth and Kinross Council's and the Scottish Ambulance Service were also in attendance. No injuries were reported.
Councillors paid tribute to those involved at a meeting of Conservative Housing and Social Wellbeing Committee on November 2.
SNP Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Bob Brawn said: "This was a major incident because it is surrounded by residential housing and obviously chemicals in place which did start to explode.
"I wanted to thank the firefighters for containing the fire in that one building with residences around. I think it's important to mention the volunteer firefighters because they are all trained professionals and they take the same risks as the full-time firefighters. My thanks to them for their professionalism in containing the fire and ensuring there was no spread to people's residences."
The local councillor also praised the kindness of members of the local community.
He said: "I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the local people who opened their doors to the first responders to offer them coffee, tea, and biscuits and a comfort break if they needed it.
"Finally my thanks to Scott MacGregor - who's chair of the local [ Blairgowrie and Rattray] community council - for turning up on site and preparing the resilience team to step in if it was needed. Thankfully it wasn't but the team was ready - on alert - to help people if necessary."
Convener and fellow Blairgowrie and Glens councillor Tom McEwan agreed.
The SNP councillor said: "We sit in community councils and talk about resilience and the group talk about what they've got set up.
"It's not until it's actually needed by our communities that we actually see the full value and how important it is to have these things in place.
"It's a good example of the community's work that it does engage with emergency services."
