Fergus Ewing, Agriculture Minister Jim Fairlie and Edward Mountain.
By Bill Heaney
Wildfires can be life-threatening, especially when they happen in places like Rowardennan on Loch Lomondside when there is only one road in and one road out, according to Fergus Ewing, a senior MSP in the Scottish Parliament this week.
Fergus Ewing asked the Scottish Government, in light of reports that the worst wildfires ever recorded in Scotland affected the areas around Dava, Lochindorb and Carrbridge this summer, what discussions the rural affairs secretary has had with ministerial colleagues regarding potentially commissioning an independent review of wildfire management practices.
The Minister for Agriculture and Connectivity Jim Fairlie said that he, alongside the Minister for Victims and Community Safety, will host a wildfire summit on 14 October.
He added: “The focus will be on wildfire prevention measures, the response to recent wildfires and the appropriateness of our resources and our deployment. All key stakeholders will be invited to attend and input to the discussion.
“Furthermore, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is conducting a series of debriefs to help to identify lessons learned from this year’s response. We will then consider whether further evidence or advice is required to ensure that we have appropriate mitigation and response plans in place.”
Fergus Ewing said his question had not been answered.
He added: “Be that as it may, however, the fact is that many deaths that occur in major fires are caused not through the fire itself but through smoke inhalation when people try to flee the fire in vehicles using the road on which they arrived.
Rowardennan in the shadow of Ben Lomond has just one road in and one road out. Picture by Bill Heaney
“Two areas in Scotland that have thousands of visitors every day for most of the year are Glenmore and Rowardennan [Loch Lomondside], which both have one road in and one road out.
“Does the minister agree that it is essential that, before next Easter, a detailed plan is compiled so that we are in a position to effectively tackle serious fires in such locations?
“Otherwise, there is a serious risk of catastrophic loss of life. Does he agree that an independent review provides the best way to compile that, rather than having a variety of public bodies marking their own jotters?”
Jim Fairlie said that Fergus Ewing had already written to him and the community safety minister, Siobhian Brown, to seek a meeting.
He added: “When we have that meeting, which I have agreed to host, he will be able to raise those individual points about the areas that he is specifically concerned about.
“However, in relation to the independent review that he talked about, it is more appropriate to ensure that we have the experts in the room—the people who know exactly how to manage wildfires and what wildfire mitigation is—having a proper discussion about how we put resilience into our systems.”
Edward Mountain, MSP for (Highlands and Islands, told the chamber: “I am interested to hear that the minister will attend a meeting. I wrote to him on 8 August requesting such a meeting and he told me this morning that he is too busy between now and Christmas. Well, there we go.
“This year, there have been 62 fires in the Highlands. That is the highest number since five years ago, when there were 85, and we still have a big part of the year to go.
“In the past 10 years, there have been 570 fires in the Highlands, which represents a third of all fires in Scotland, and it is going to get worse because of things such as the muirburn code.
“Surely we should have centralised assets, including access to aircraft—fixed wing and rotary—in order to fight fires and save lives, rather than relying on private estates and the will of good neighbours to fight these fires.
Jim Fairlie told him: “In response to the first point that Edward Mountain made, I say that he is absolutely correct. I refused to attend the meeting that he asked for on the basis that we are already planning a number of events in order to get experts in the room who know exactly what they are talking about.
“As far as our ability to go forward is concerned, that is what those discussions will be about, and I will be more than happy to share information about the discussions with the Parliament as we develop them.”
Top of page: Wildfire spreading rapidly across Ben Lomond near Rowardennan.
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