Two Weeks On, the Cairngorms Fire Is Still Burning

Two weeks ago I mentioned, almost as an aside, that wildfires were raging in the Cairngorms. Well, they still are. What started near Glenmore on 15 July has grown into one of the worst wildfires the Cairngorms has ever seen, now a fresh aerial assessment puts the burnt area at around 25 square kilometres of heather moorland, deep peat and ancient Caledonian pinewood (Fire Scotland, BBC). The blaze forced the full evacuation of Nethy Bridge's roughly 650 residents, drew in more than 500 firefighters at its peak, and needed helicopters dropping close to 750,000 litres of water a day just to hold the line (Guardian).

For forestry businesses, this matters because Forestry and Land Scotland crews and machinery have been pulled straight into firebreak construction alongside the fire service, gamekeepers and estate staff — work that doesn't pause just because it's peak season. RSPB Scotland's Loch Garten reserve and swathes of Abernethy Forest have taken real damage, and Scottish Land & Estates is using the fire to press the case that Scotland still has no dedicated firefighting aircraft of its own, leaning instead on borrowed military support and contracted private helicopters (Ground News).

The fire's now largely surrounded, though the exclusion zone around Glenmore and Loch Morlich remains and officials say it could be weeks before it's fully out (Police Scotland). Recovery will take decades as this is one of Scotland's last fragments of ancient pinewood, already down to around 1% of its historic range. But Scots pine has quietly evolved to live with fire, and natural regeneration will follow once the ground cools. Properly resourcing next summer, rather than just reacting to this one, is the real test. We’ll need bold decisions from policy makers to think carefully how we manage these risks in the future.

Stay safe out there, and let's hope for some proper rain before the next one.

Jack

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🌲 At its peak, Caledonian pinewood covered around 1.5 million hectares of Scotland. Today, less than 1% survives, scattered across just 84 fragments and Abernethy, badly hit by this fire, is one of the largest. 🌲

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