Scottish Liberal Democrat MSP Andrew Baxter has called for a cross party summit to examine how Scotland prepares for and responds to major wildfires following the recent blaze in the Cairngorms National Park.
The Skye, Lochaber and Badenoch MSP says the meeting would bring together political parties, emergency services, environmental experts and local authority partners to consider what lessons can be learned and what improvements could be made before future wildfire seasons.
The proposal follows the Cairngorms wildfire, which burned for days and prompted a large scale response from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies.
Mr Baxter has criticised the Scottish Government’s handling of the incident, claiming ministers took more than a week to convene the Scottish Government Resilience Room despite the scale of the emergency.
He has also renewed calls for greater support for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, arguing that firefighter numbers have fallen significantly since the service was centralised in 2013.
Andrew Baxter said:
“The Scottish Government’s response to the Cairngorms wildfire has fallen short.
“The blaze has been described as apocalyptic, but ministers failed to recognise it as an emergency for more than a week.
“In that time, the fire spread across one of the country’s most treasured national parks, with smoke blowing all the way out to Aberdeen.
“This was the first major test of the new action plan that the government paraded earlier this year.
“It deserves to be looked at again in light of what happened here.
“I’ve already highlighted how the current system for mobilising specialist helicopter resources didn’t match up to the challenge we’ve faced.
“We also need to end the era of cuts to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, making sure they are properly resourced and able to respond to incidents in good time.
“I want to work with our fire and rescue teams, local authority partners, environmental experts and MSPs across parliament to make sure that the next time a wildfire breaks out, we are fully prepared.”
Scottish Liberal Democrat Highlands and Islands MSP Morven May MacCallum said:
“This fire has caused significant disruption and damage, forcing families from their homes.
“Those communities at the heart of this deserve clarity on what went wrong.
“Whether that’s the delay in convening the government’s resilience room, or the decision to turn down legitimate offers of support as the fire spread.
“Ultimately, these communities have been let down by a slow and inadequate response from the government.
“They deserve straight answers and a concrete action plan that is ready when the next fire comes.”
Earlier this year the Scottish Government published a Strategic Action Plan for Wildfires, describing it as a coordinated approach to preventing and responding to wildfire incidents.
The Cairngorms blaze was the first major wildfire since the strategy was introduced and has prompted renewed debate over Scotland’s preparedness for increasingly severe wildfires.
