Scottish Highlands wildfires persist amid extended ‘very high’ warning

Wildfires continue to rage in the Scottish Highlands, with emergency crews working tirelessly since Saturday afternoon to extinguish the flames. The fire, which began near Daviot, south of Inverness, prompted local authorities to advise residents to stay indoors and keep their windows and doors shut to avoid smoke inhalation. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) initially deployed six appliances and specialist resources to tackle the blaze.

“As of Monday 11 June at 8am, two appliances remain on the scene working to extinguish the fire and prevent further fire spread,” said a spokesperson for the SFRS. The wildfire started close to a caravan park around 2.45pm on Saturday, coinciding with the hottest day of the year in Scotland. Temperatures reached 26.7C in Auchincruive, South Ayrshire, and 23C in Inverness.

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) temporarily cut power to 41 properties in the vicinity on Saturday. “Using mobile generation equipment and by rerouting supplies to different parts of our network, we were able to get the power back on to 29 properties by 11pm that night, while still crucially ensuring the section of the network where the fire service teams were working was not live,” a spokesperson from SSEN Distribution explained. After receiving clearance from the fire service, power was restored to all 41 properties by 5pm on Sunday.

The SFRS has extended the “very high” wildfire warning that was initially in place until Saturday through to Monday. The Daviot wildfire follows another that broke out near Cannich in the Highlands on 28 May. Firefighters, farmers, gamekeepers, and teams from Forestry and Land Scotland and RSPB Scotland spent days trying to control the fire. The smoke from the flames was visible from space, with satellite images capturing the plumes drifting across Loch Ness. The SFRS reported that the fire burned approximately 15 square kilometres (nearly six square miles) of land.