Cairngorms wildfire: Police declare major incident as nearby homes evacuated

Police Scotland has declared a major incident as emergency services continue to battle a significant bushfire ravaging the Cairngorms National Park.

The behavior of the fire has become increasingly unpredictable, exacerbated by warnings of dramatically changing weather conditions, including stronger winds.

As a precaution, houses around the Nethy Bridge were evacuated and residents were directed to a private retreat center at the Macdonald Aviemore Hotel.

Access roads to Nethy Bridge are now closed to the public.

Inspector Judy Hill said: “Weather conditions in the Cairngorms over the last 24 hours have added further complexity to this situation.

“Due to evidence showing that the fire was spreading towards the Nethy Bridge, the decision was made to declare a major incident and evacuate residents as a precaution.

“As our fire colleagues continue to battle the bushfire, additional police resources are being deployed to contact those who need to leave their property and maintain cordons in restricted areas.

“We recognize that this is a very worrying time for residents, businesses and visitors to the Cairngorms region.

“Rest assured that the multi-agency response is fully committed to bringing this incident to a safe conclusion as quickly as possible.”

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it had maintained a “significant operational response” since the bushfire was first reported on July 15.

More than 500 firefighters have battled the blaze over the past nine days, alongside specialist bushfire vehicles, all-terrain vehicles, helicopter water bombing operations and partner organisations.

Deputy Chief Executive Kenny Barbour said: “Our firefighters, specialist resources and partners have worked tirelessly over the last nine days to respond to this challenging and complex bushfire incident.

“The combination of prolonged dry conditions, strengthening winds and challenging terrain has created an extremely complex operational environment.

“Large areas of the fire area are inaccessible by vehicle or foot, making helicopter water bomb operations and specialist bushfire tactics essential to our response.”

He added: “We recognize that this is an extremely worrying time for those affected, particularly residents who have been asked to leave their homes. Public safety remains our absolute priority and we would ask everyone to continue to follow Police Scotland advice and avoid affected areas while firefighting operations continue.”

The public is asked to avoid affected areas in the Cairngorms National Park. SFRS said the area remained unsafe due to active firefighting operations, rapidly changing fire conditions and helicopter activity.

First Minister John Swinney urged people to respect exclusion zones around the fire.

He told the Press Association: “I would of course ask people in the area to follow all current advice and respect the exclusion zone that has been put in place.

“This was an incident earlier this week that we felt was moving in a positive direction, but as weather conditions changed – which is an indication of the scale and difficulty of the situation we are managing – it moved in the other direction.”

His comments came as smoke from a bushfire raging near Glenmore drifted as far as Aberdeen due to changing wind conditions.

The forest fire that broke out near the village of Glenmore on Wednesday last week led to the evacuation of residents and campsites.

At its height it covered an area of ​​about six square kilometers of shrubs and small trees.