‘Major incident’ as Cairngorms National Park wildfire rages towards homes | UK | News
Police Scotland has declared a major incident as emergency services continue to battle a wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park. This comes amid warnings that dramatically changing weather conditions, including stronger winds, are contributing to the fire’s increasingly unpredictable behaviour. Houses around the Nethy Bridge were evacuated as a precaution.
Residents are being directed to a private leisure center at the Macdonald Aviemore Hotel and access roads to the Nethy Bridge have been closed. Inspector Judy Hill said: “The weather conditions experienced in the Cairngorms over the last 24 hours have added further complexity to this situation. With evidence showing the fire spreading towards Nethy Bridge, the decision was taken to declare a major incident and evacuate residents as a precaution. “As our fire crews continue to tackle the bushfire, additional police resources are being deployed to contact those who need to leave their property and maintain cordons around 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 has continued to provide a significant response to the bushfire since it was first reported on July 15.
Over the past nine days, more than 500 firefighters have been involved in efforts to contain the blaze, supported by specialist wildfire units, all-terrain vehicles, helicopter water bombing operations and a range of partner agencies working alongside emergency teams.
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 those residents who have been asked to leave their homes.
“Public safety remains our absolute priority and we ask everyone to continue to follow Police Scotland advice and avoid affected areas while firefighting operations continue.”
Scottish 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 is 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.”
