Home / Environment / Scotland's Wildfire Threat Grows: "Foreseeable" Community Impact
Scotland's Wildfire Threat Grows: "Foreseeable" Community Impact
4 Mar
Summary
- Wildfires are foreseen to increasingly affect Scottish communities.
- Scotland experienced its largest wildfires in history last summer.
- A national fire warning system and community readiness are advocated.
Wildfires are "absolutely foreseeable" to increasingly interact with Scottish communities, MSPs were informed. Evidence presented to Holyrood's Rural Affairs and Islands Committee highlighted the growing risk following last summer's record-breaking wildfires. The fires in the Carrbridge and Dava areas in June and July 2025 burned over 11,000 hectares of moorland and forestry, becoming the largest event of its kind in Scotland's history.
Discussions revealed strong support for a national fire warning system, emphasizing the need for communities to understand and act upon alerts. Calum Kippen of the Scottish Gamekeepers Association stated that some Highland villages are in "imminent danger" and that the Carrbridge fire could have easily spread to Grantown-on-Spey. He also highlighted the critical, yet often overlooked, public health risks associated with wildfire smoke.
Concerns were raised about the current reliance on voluntary help from estates and farmers to combat wildfires. Without this assistance alongside the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, managing such large-scale events would be impossible. Resilience groups in the Highlands are proactively training individuals to protect village infrastructure until emergency services arrive.
