Firefighters spent the night battling a large-scale wildfire near Ryvoan Bothy in Cairngorms National Park after it broke out at about 11:50 on Wednesday. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said it was “very much an ongoing incident”, and crews were expected to remain at the scene for the rest of the day.
The fire spread overnight into difficult, steep and rocky terrain, while thick fog made it harder to see the blaze and assess the situation. Ross Ewing of Scottish Land and Estates said, “We are hearing from land managers involved in the containment of this wildfire that there is thick fog this morning which is making it difficult to see the fire and assess accordingly.”
Glenmore fire breaks
Ewing also said, “The indications we have received so far is that the fire has expanded overnight, including into very difficult, steep and rocky terrain.” He added, “We understand that bulldozers were used to create fire breaks at Glenmore which will hopefully help to contain the spread.”
Satellite imagery reviewed by Verify showed the fire beginning to spread on Wednesday. An image captured by Planet Labs showed the fire taking hold at 12:30 on Wednesday. A Copernicus Sentinel-2 image taken a few minutes later showed smoke near the location and a separate pall spreading southwards, and another satellite image a short while later showed smoke drifting southwards.
Cairngorms wildfire risk
The blaze came as there was a very high risk of wildfire in the central Highlands, southern Scotland and eastern Scotland. For people following the incident near Ryvoan Bothy, the immediate practical point is that crews were still working on containment through Thursday, with fog and terrain slowing what they could see and reach.
How close the wildfire came to Ryvoan Bothy is not stated in the source, but the spread into rocky ground and the use of fire breaks at Glenmore show why the response was focused on holding the edge of the fire rather than simply watching it burn out.
