Scotland doesn’t have the “natural resilience” to wildfires that it once had, a minister has warned following a spate of devasting blazes in recent months.
The warning comes after the Scottish Government hosted a special wildfire summit on Tuesday to discuss how it will manage blazes going forward.
Over the past year, Scotland has suffered the largest wildfires in living memory, with Dava in the Highlands enduring the worst damage as an area the size of 10,000 football pitches was devastated by the blaze.
In total, the Government said 13 wildfire alerts were issued this year alone, and firefighters attended more than 200 blazes.
“We really need people to understand we’re in a different climate now,” agriculture minister Jim Fairlie said.
“We don’t have the natural resilience to wildfire that we used to have, and people should really be mindful before setting fire anywhere in the country, whether it’s campfires, barbeques, or whatever because that spark could land 500 metres away and suddenly you have a wildfire on your hands.”
The summit was jointly chaired by Fairlie and community safety minister Siobhian Brown, bringing together leading figures from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS), NatureScot, Scottish Land and Estates, and various land managers and environmental organisations.
Ross Ewin, director of moorland at Scottish Land and Estates, said the two key themes were around wildfire prevention and how to make responses more effective.
“It’s been a really positive start,” he said.
“It’s good to start having these conversations, but what we need now is action.”
Wildfire experts said specialist training is required, with better equipment needed, and land managers said local knowledge is key.
Fairlie said Scotland has seen a much greater number and a much greater intensity of wildfires in recent years.
“We’re going to get more wildfires, and the intensity of the one we saw in Dava this year was absolutely devastating, so we need to make sure we are properly prepared for that going forward,” Fairlie added.
“The sole purpose of this summit is to allow us to see what worked, what didn’t work, and what mitigation measures were in the right place.”
In addition to the summit, a roundtable event will take place with MSPs after Holyrood returns from the October recess.
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