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Wildfire smoke stretching 20 miles south from Dava and Carrbridge drama





FIRESMOKE OVER THE FOUR SEASONS: The wind is bringing the cloud down through the strath from some 15-20 miles north.
FIRESMOKE OVER THE FOUR SEASONS: The wind is bringing the cloud down through the strath from some 15-20 miles north.

As the first helicopters reached the wildfires of Carrbridge and the Dava, the smoke reached Aviemore…

Grim pictures are coming in from Badenoch now as the wind change sweeps the smoke southwards with the stench of charred vegetation and burned earth.

“It’s scary enough seeing the posts about the fires, but when the smoke starts coming over your home, it's really scary,” said Sarah Musgrove in Aviemore as she posted these pictures.

With the wind not abating it’s anyone’s guess how far it’s going to bring the smoke and as it does so questions are being raised by locals about just what else is being spread.

Social media posts are asking whether homes near the fires will need to be evacuated.

Meantime, MSP Fergus Ewing told the Strathy this evening: “We are indeed thinking about all those folk battling these fires and anyone who has had to evacuate because of them.

HEADS DOWN: The 'fall out' of the two wildfires is heading this way ever more thickly.
HEADS DOWN: The 'fall out' of the two wildfires is heading this way ever more thickly.

“Progress is being made with the arrival of helicopters but the fire is covering a vast area stretching from Carrbridge through to the Forres area, and whilst there is a bit of rain now, if the weather changes then things can become worse.”

Mr Ewing stressed: “The attendance from volunteers has been magnificent. So far as my informant is aware, there have been no injuries but there have been some ‘close calls’ and the danger of injury is substantial

“I have called through the Highland media for the Scottish Government resilience rooom. ( SGORR) to be activitated and indeed did so first yesterday afternoon shortly after I was alerted that this was an extremely serious fire, and described by some as the worst ever in the Highlands.

THICKENING: It's anyone's guess how far south it will take the smoke
THICKENING: It's anyone's guess how far south it will take the smoke

“A resilience room (emergency) event was activated for a wild fire in Galloway before which was a serious fire, but not on the scale of this one.

“So I urge the Scottish Government to activate this process.”


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