Residents of the village of Nethy Bridge, located near the wildfire burning in the Cairngorms National Park, have been informed that they can safely return to their homes after being evacuated on Friday night. The wildfire was initially declared a major incident due to a sudden shift in the weather, but that status has now been officially stood down by Police Scotland following a detailed assessment of the situation by emergency responders.
In a statement released on Saturday night, Police Scotland announced: "after an extensive multi-agency response to a large fire within Cairngorms National Park, residents of Nethy Bridge are being advised that they can now return to their properties." Kenny Barbour, Police Scotland's deputy assistant chief officer, explained that the decision to stand down the major incident followed extensive work. "The extensive work carried out over recent days, including the creation of effective fire breaks, has significantly reduced the risk to nearby communities, allowing evacuated residents to safely return home," Barbour said.
Superintendent Judy Hill added that the "ongoing multi agency response remains a high priority, with significant partnership resources and volunteers working tirelessly and in challenging circumstances, to support our efforts to extinguish the fires." To support this, firefighters are maintaining a major operational presence, with 75 personnel remaining on the ground on Saturday as work continues to fully conclude the incident.
Despite these efforts, local residents have criticized the handling of the wildfire, which has been burning for 10 days after breaking out near the village of Glenmore on Wednesday of last week. Critics argued that the decision to declare a major incident came far too late and that the government had been slow in scaling up its emergency response. Sandy McCook, the leader of the Nethy Bridge community council, expressed frustration that too many decisions had been "taken from Edinburgh," while local resident John McGlinchey remarked that the evacuation was "just not organised properly."
Responding to these criticisms, the Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Neil Gray, defended the state's actions, stating: "Throughout this significant incident, the government and the emergency services have given everything to ensuring that the fire is being addressed." First Minister John Swinney also welcomed the lifting of the evacuation notice but emphasized that vigilance remains necessary. Speaking after a meeting of the Scottish government's resilience room on Saturday evening, Swinney said: "the Scottish Government, the emergency services and all relevant authorities will continue to treat this wildfire, as has been the case since its onset, with the utmost seriousness and necessary resources until the last flames are out."
During the resilience room meeting, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service reported "good progress" in strengthening fire breaks to protect residential areas and confirmed that the number of active fire hot spots was reducing. At its height, the wildfire covered about six square kilometres of heather and small trees, requiring more than 500 firefighters to tackle it. While the main threat has decreased, precautions continue elsewhere; on Saturday morning, Police Scotland evacuated residents in a small area of properties north-west of Dorback Lodge, known as Lain Thatchan, as a precaution. Furthermore, residents living in the affected areas and those impacted by the spread of smoke, including Aberdeenshire and Moray, have been advised to keep all windows and doors closed.
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