Firefighters are expected to remain at a blaze on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh “for a couple of days”, according to a senior officer in the fire service.
A report was received at about 6.30pm on Sunday evening, with four appliances sent to the scene in the Scottish capital.
But at 6.30am on Monday, six appliances were tackling the blaze.
Speaking to BBC Radio Scotland, assistant chief officer John Henderson of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) discussed the response in Edinburgh, as well as the work ongoing to tackle the wildfire in the Cairngorms, which has been burning since last week.
“In terms of size on the ground, the fire up in the Cairngorms region is about six-and-a-half square kilometres – so a relatively large fire,” he said.
“The fire on Arthur’s Seat, at the minute, is about 0.01 kilometres squared.
“Protracted wildfire incidents, they’re weather-driven, we deal with them in partnership, they take a protracted period of time to deal with them.
“We tend to be there for protracted periods of time, even after the fire is extinguished to make sure that we’re maintaining the hotspots.”
Specifically on the Edinburgh blaze, Mr Henderson said: “The feeling from the ground there is that we’ll probably be there for a couple of days, continuing to tackle that and dampen out hotspots from those.”
The cause of both fires remains unknown, Mr Henderson said, with crews focused on containing and extinguishing the blazes before an investigation can be carried out.
While he accepted “sometimes these things happen”, the fire officer urged the public to be sensible when outdoors.
“In any of the areas where we’ve got wildfire warnings, or as I said on Arthur’s Seat, we don’t advocate any open flames.
“So, no sources that could start a spark – so no use of barbecues, no open fires, nothing along those lines, and really tidy up after yourself.”
A spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 6.38pm on Sunday July 19 to reports of a fire in the open at Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
“Operations Control mobilised four fire appliances and crews are still at the scene.
“There are no reported casualties.”
Edinburgh University student Mahek Jayantilial, 24, lives near Arthur’s Seat and said she could see the fire from her window.
“I was a bit worried because I thought the fire would come this way, but thankfully there’s enough concrete here to stop it, and the firefighters have isolated the area, which is good,” she said.
She added: “Seeing the mountain being on fire is a bit upsetting because we didn’t have rain for like a couple weeks.
“All the grass has dried off, and it was bound to happen, like a small bit of glass or a poorly snuffed-out cigarette butt would have ignited it, and then something so small creates such a big fire.
“But thankfully, I don’t think anyone’s hurt. But it’s not good to see really. I worry about the wildlife, honestly, and sometimes it could be the environment itself, global warming as well.”
Callum Smith, who lives locally, said the was concerned about the impact the fire will have on a nearby peregrine falcon nesting site.
“Peregrine falcons have been nesting here for four, five, six years, possibly longer,” he explained.
“And there is a nest exactly where the fire was, above the fire on the cliffs itself.
“There were two adults and two chicks. And the youngest chick hadn’t fledged yet, which meant it cannot fly unsupported.
“Possibly the two adults and the eldest chick would have been able to fly away, but the the outcome for the youngest one is unclear.
“Unfortunately, the the smoke traversed over the top of the cliffs and onto the cliffs, so the smoke would have gone directly onto the nest site.”
Police Scotland said Queen’s Drive remained closed because of the fire.
A spokesperson said: “Emergency services remain in attendance, and the public should continue to avoid the area.
“Residents in the local area should keep windows and doors closed.”
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