Rural businesses, estates and contractors played a major role in responding to the wildfire (Photo: Jenny Cowan)
Scotland’s wildfire response is relying too heavily on the goodwill of rural businesses, a new report has warned after more than 3,300 hectares burned in the Glenmore-Strathnethy fire in the Cairngorms.
The Scottish Land & Estates report, produced for the Scottish Government, found more than 40 businesses and organisations were involved in the response, volunteered assistance, were authorised to help or were placed on standby.
More than 250 pieces of specialist equipment were recorded as available, with a combined stated value of almost ÂŁ6.4 million.
The equipment included Argocats, ATVs, fogging units, bulldozers, excavators, tractors, water tanks, bowsers, pumps, radios, PPE and hand tools.
Survey returns also recorded 266 person-days and 38 person-nights among those volunteering, authorised to assist or placed on standby.
SLE said the scale of the response showed how heavily major wildfire incidents can depend on estates, rural businesses, contractors and conservation bodies.
However, the organisation warned that Scotland remains too reliant on informal mobilisation, uncertain helicopter availability and last-minute access to private resources.
Ross Ewing, Director of Moorland & Strategic Projects at Scottish Land & Estates and author of the report, said: “The Glenmore-Strathnethy fire showed rural Scotland at its best – people, machinery, local knowledge and specialist expertise made available at speed.”
He added: “But it also exposed a dangerous weakness in that Scotland is still relying on goodwill and improvisation when it needs a planned, exercised wildfire resilience system.”
The report comes after two major wildfires in just over a year and calls for rural organisations to be formally integrated into Scotland’s wildfire planning before the next period of very high or extreme risk.
Among its recommendations is a live wildfire capability register through the Community Asset Register, allowing emergency planners to identify available machinery, water-moving capacity, specialist knowledge and other resources before a fire breaks out.
It also proposes standardised mobilisation and tasking procedures, local wildfire groups in high-risk areas and stronger integration between estate fire plans and wider wildfire management plans.
SLE is also calling for a mechanism to reimburse businesses for the use, repair or damage of privately owned machinery deployed during incidents.
“Estates, contractors and conservation bodies are willing to play their part in future – but this must come as part of a properly planned process rather than a last-minute call as a wildfire begins to rage,” Ewing said.
Aerial firefighting is another major focus of the report.
SLE wants a dedicated wildfire aviation framework to replace reliance on the short-notice availability of private helicopter contractors.
The proposed system would set minimum availability requirements, mobilisation times, activation thresholds and funding arrangements during periods of high wildfire risk.
Ewing said: “We need guaranteed aerial support when risk is highest.”
The report also raises concerns over the impact of future muirburn regulation on wildfire resilience.
SLE argues that some of the specialist equipment, trained personnel and practical fire-management knowledge available during emergencies is maintained because land managers carry out planned muirburn.
It warns that if licensing arrangements make lawful muirburn impractical or commercially unviable, investment in that capability could fall.
Ewing said Scotland also needed “a licensing regime for muirburn that does not erode the skills and equipment Scotland depends on when wildfire breaks out”.
The report recommends that ministers treat workable muirburn regulation as part of wider wildfire resilience planning rather than as a separate land-management issue.
MSPs are due to consider Scotland’s growing wildfire risk on 1 September, with a ministerial statement on the Glenmore-Strathnethy wildfire in the Cairngorms expected on 3 September.
SLE said the report’s recommendations should now inform government and parliamentary discussions on how Scotland prepares for future incidents.
“After two major wildfires in the space of just over a year, we know that the next major wildfire will not wait for us to be slow on this matter,” Ewing said.