Forest Fire
From Moriston Matters, Issue 13, June 1979.
THE BIG FIRE
The Invermoriston fire broke out one Monday in May 1942. It raged up the hill opposite the church for 3 days and nights. I went down there with a squad of men from our head-quarters in the Millbuie Forest in the Black Isle on the Wednesday when it was practically over. We arrived in Invermoriston in the afternoon and were entertained by the locals in the village hall, which had been turned into a NAAFI for the occasion. We were all fed first, and in the evening some musicians arrived and we had a good-going dance before setting out for the fire and relieving those who had been out all day. We set out about trudged 8 o' clock and trudged over that hill all night, damping down odd patches that were still smouldering, We were helped somewhat in that it started to drizzle sometime during the night and by the time we came down in the morning, soaked and smoke-blackened, the rain had started in earnest. We all had breakfast again in the hall and as there was no more fear for the fire we got on the lorries and went back home, along with those who had been waiting to take over. I came off at Cruivend as on that Thursday I had to go to my grandmother's funeral from Ruilick.
D.J.M. Beauly