'Common ground' found at Scotland's first annual wildfire summit
The summit was held in response to catastrophic damage caused by wildfires this summer that are said to be the worst in Scotland’s history.
Scotland’s first annual wildfire summit to be headed by the Scottish Government saw “common ground” reached between public and private sector groups discussing how best to manage land to limit risk.
Chaired by Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie and Community Safety Minister Siobhian Brown, the event brought together rural stakeholders, gamekeepers, farmers, crofters, public sector organisations and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).
The different voices shared their experiences and what they learned from what have been described as the worst wildfires in Scotland’s history.
The fire burned nearly 12,000 hectares of moorland and woodland in Moray and the Highland region earlier this year.
The meeting, chaired on Tuesday by the ministers in Grantown in the Cairngorms National Park, comes after the Scottish Government announced it was going to delay new muirburn legislation for a second time.
The decision was made in the wake of the devastating wildfires in Carrbridge and on Dava Moor in the summer, in which more than 100 estate workers were mobilised with the help of the SFRS to extinguish the flames.
Muirburn is the traditional, controlled burning of moorland vegetation, primarily heather, to stimulate fresh growth for grazers and gamebirds. The practice is used as a tool to create firebreaks against wildfires.
Conservation groups lock horns over the practice, with various nature campaigners saying it causes wildfires and damages the environment.
Meanwhile, those in favour of muirburn point to it being a tool in preventing severe damage caused by wildfires by creating firebreaks.
The SFRS has previously said muirburn is an effective tool across certain types of land management to help prevent wildfire risk.
Colin McClean, head of land management at the Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA), said: “We were pleased to attend today’s meeting, hosted by the Scottish Government, which was very constructive.
“We found common ground in agreeing that we need to address wildfire risk across all types of land management in the Cairngorms National Park and beyond.”
Mr McClean pointed to the CNPA’s new fire byelaw to help reduce the risk of wildfire.
“We look forward to continuing this pragmatic approach with our partners to help strengthen this work and ensure we are as prepared and resilient as possible,” he said.
Ross Ewing, director of moorland at estate membership organisation Scottish Land & Estates (SLE), and who attended the event, said: “This is a really positive first step to ensure that we are taking appropriate and timely action to help prevent wildfires, and to better prepare ourselves for responding to them in the future.
“SLE has consistently argued that the one element of fire behaviour that we can control ahead of any wildfire taking hold is the fuel - the above-ground combustible vegetation.
“We can reduce the fuel load using effective methods of vegetation control such as muirburn and, to a lesser extent, cutting. Ministers have been receptive to these points and are engaging pro-actively with the rural business sector.”
Commenting after the meeting, Mr Fairlie said: “It has been fantastic to get everyone with the expertise and experience together, including land managers and those who were actually involved in fighting the fires, to share all of their learning.”
The minister said the meeting highlighted “prevention is better than cure”. The findings of the talk will be presented to MSPs after recess.
Muirburn licensing – introduced under the Wildlife Management and Muirburn (Scotland) Act – had originally been due to take effect at the start of the 2025 muirburn season on September 15.
It was delayed until January 2026, but has now been delayed further until autumn next year.
Conclusions from various studies on muirburn are wide ranging.
A report from the James Hutton Institute claimed “96 per cent of the total wildfire area [in Scotland] occurred outside moorlands managed by muirburn, with wildfires covering 1.1 per cent of total moorland area”.
Meanwhile, data provided by the SFRS to the CNPA in a consultation suggests “intentional burn” - which, while the breakdown of different types wasn’t available, includes muirburn - is responsible for circa 19 per cent of primary fires in the national park.
The summit comes after The Scotsman earlier this month revealed a smoke flare used in a helicopter training exercise had been linked to one of Scotland’s largest wildfires on record.
The pyrotechnic was thrown out of a helicopter above an estate bordering Moray and the Highlands during a search and rescue training exercise towards the end of June.
The blaze, which has been referred to as the Carrbridge wildfire in official statements, is one of two wildfires that blighted flora and fauna across Moray and the Highlands during the summer. The second fire began about a week later around Loch Allan, in the north of Dava moor in the Strathspey area of Scotland.
SLE has estimated the fires combined affected 11,827 hectares of land - an area almost 50 times bigger than Holyrood Park in Edinburgh.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.