The devastating Cairngorms wildfire will return to the political spotlight on Tuesday when Andrew Baxter leads a Scottish Parliament debate examining Scotland’s response to the growing threat of major wildfires.
The Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP for Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch will bring the issue before MSPs as Parliament returns from its summer recess, following a blaze which burned across more than 2,500 hectares for over a month.
Residents in Nethy Bridge were evacuated during the fire, while smoke travelled across a wide area and was reported as far away as Aberdeen.
Baxter’s motion argues that wildfires are becoming an increasing threat in Scotland and challenges the Scottish Government over its handling of the Cairngorms emergency.
The Liberal Democrats claim ministers waited more than a week before chairing a meeting of the Scottish Government Resilience Room and later declined an offer of UK military assistance.
The party is also highlighting figures it says demonstrate wider pressures facing the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service as firefighters confront increasingly demanding incidents.
Those figures show overtime payments reached almost £6 million last year, compared with £4.5 million in 2021/22, while days lost through mental health absences increased from 4,219 to 12,132 over the same period.
The Liberal Democrats also say almost a third of full time equivalent retained firefighter posts are currently unfilled.
They are calling for a cross party summit involving those directly affected by wildfire risk and response, with the aim of examining what happened in the Cairngorms and establishing an action plan for future incidents.
Andrew Baxter MSP said:
“The Cairngorms wildfire has left an apocalyptic and desolate imprint on one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
“It was not a one-off, freak weather event.
“Wildfires are now happening annually in Scotland; we need a government that is far more prepared, far more proactive when the next one inevitably strikes.
“The Cairngorms fire was also the first major test of the new action plan that the government paraded earlier this year, but the unacceptable failings of their response show that this plan must be looked at again.
“It’s also clear that the fire service doesn’t have the resources it desperately needs to deal with the growing threat of wildfires.
“Mental health absences among staff and a burgeoning overtime bill are only making things worse.
“I hope that the Scottish Government agrees to our call for a cross-party summit.
“That’s the first, essential step in working with fire teams, local authorities, farmers, gamekeepers, businesses and more to prevent a devastating repeat of this summer.”
