Calls for public agency to have 24/7 presence at Cairngorms' most popular beauty spot
Landowner Forestry and Land Scotland is coming under mounting pressure to have an on-site management presence at Glenmore Forest Park.
Doubt was even cast on whether the public agency has a fire management plan for the beauty spot at the latest meeting of the Cairngorms National Park Authority's board.
CNPA chief executive Grant Moir said in response: “I would be very surprised if they do not have a fire plan for Glenmore and if they do not then they absolutely should. I will ask them directly that. It is a key thing.”
Board member Russell Jones pointed out: “Someone would have to be on site to direct the fire service.”
Mr Moir responded: “One of the things I think is that there is a need to have an on-site manager for Glenmore. I have said that before and I will say it again.
“For the amount of people who go into Glenmore, it needs on-site management.”
FLS confirmed to the Strathy there is a fire management plan in place for the area.
But Alex MacLeod, FLS North Region Manager, said the first point of contact for any fire should always be SFRS which will then coordinate with them.
“Our Glenmore land management plan follows the wildfire resilience guidance (Scottish Forestry) which informs all of our forest operations,” he said.
“We also operate a roster of duty and response officers who monitor the land that we manage, and who are often the ones to raise an alert and take the lead in coordinating our response to fires.
“However, any response that we make is in support of the SFRS which always leads on incident control. The support we provide is available to SFRS 24/7 and, aside from direct firefighting, providing forest access and local knowledge – forest types, water bodies, etc – to SFRS crews, damping down hotspots to prevent re-ignition and coordinating aerial waterbombing.
“Given the unpredictability of wildfires and the fact that they could break out anywhere, it is vital that our fire management plans are flexible enough to cope with varying fire risk factors including the weather and prevailing ground conditions.
“These factors, and the nationally issued ‘fire risk rating’, have a bearing on the numbers of staff we have on patrol or on standby.”
