Firefighters anticipate a multi-day operation to extinguish a significant blaze on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh, with crews expected to remain on site for “a couple of days”.
The alarm was raised around 6.30pm on Sunday evening, with four appliances initially dispatched to the iconic Scottish landmark.
By 6.30am on Monday, the response had escalated to six appliances tackling the fire.
Assistant Chief Officer John Henderson of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, confirmed the extended presence.
He also referenced ongoing efforts to control a separate wildfire in the Cairngorms, active since last week.
“In terms of size on the ground, the fire up in the Cairngorms region is about six-and-a-half square kilometres – so a relatively large fire,” he said.
“The fire on Arthur’s Seat, at the minute, is about 0.01 kilometres squared.
“Protracted wildfire incidents, they’re weather-driven, we deal with them in partnership, they take a protracted period of time to deal with them.
“We tend to be there for protracted periods of time, even after the fire is extinguished to make sure that we’re maintaining the hotspots.”
Specifically on the Edinburgh blaze, Mr Henderson said: “The feeling from the ground there is that we’ll probably be there for a couple of days, continuing to tackle that and dampen out hotspots from those.”
The cause of both fires remains unknown, Mr Henderson said, with crews focused on containing and extinguishing the blazes before an investigation can be carried out.
While he accepted “sometimes these things happen”, the fire officer urged the public to be sensible when outdoors.
“In any of the areas where we’ve got wildfire warnings, or as I said on Arthur’s Seat, we don’t advocate any open flames.
“So, no sources that could start a spark – so no use of barbecues, no open fires, nothing along those lines, and really tidy up after yourself.”
A spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 6.38pm on Sunday 19 July to reports of a fire in the open at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
“Operations Control mobilised four fire appliances and crews are still at the scene.
“There are no reported casualties.”
Edinburgh University student Mahek Jayantilial, 24, lives near Arthur’s Seat and said she could see the fire from her window.
“I was a bit worried because I thought the fire would come this way, but thankfully there’s enough concrete here to stop it, and the firefighters have isolated the area, which is good,” she said.
She added: “Seeing the mountain being on fire is a bit upsetting because we didn’t have rain for like a couple weeks.
“All the grass has dried off, and it was bound to happen, like a small bit of glass or a poorly snuffed-out cigarette butt would have ignited it, and then something so small creates such a big fire.
“But thankfully, I don’t think anyone’s hurt. But it’s not good to see really. I worry about the wildlife, honestly, and sometimes it could be the environment itself, global warming as well.”
Police Scotland said Queen’s Drive remained closed because of the fire.
A spokesperson said: “Emergency services remain in attendance, and the public should continue to avoid the area.
“Residents in the local area should keep windows and doors closed.”
