Overview

• Firefighters and gamekeepers are tackling highland wildfires for a third consecutive day, a situation First Minister John Swinney described as “extremely serious.”
• The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has deployed significant and specialist resources across multiple fronts from Carrbridge to Dallas.
• The Scottish Gamekeepers Association warns that stretched crews lack capacity to respond to other emergencies, increasing the risk to human life.
• Authorities have urged residents to keep windows and doors closed against smoke and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency has issued flood alerts for potentially vulnerable areas.
• Experts say hotter, drier springs and summers driven by climate change are transforming Scotland’s landscapes into tinderboxes prone to more frequent and intense wildfires.