5 hours ago
Firefighters have worked through the night tackling a gorse blaze on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.
Smoke was seen billowing into the sky from the fire at the landmark hill, which is an extinct volcano and beauty spot to the south-east of the city centre.
The fire was reported at about 4.05pm on Sunday, according to the Scottish fire and rescue service (SFRS). It has four appliances and specialist resources at the scene, where they are continuing to battle the fire.
Arthur’s Seat, named after King Arthur, is at Holyrood Park, which overlooks the Scottish parliament.
An SFRS spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 4.05pm on Sunday, 10 August to reports of a fire in the open at Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh. Operations control mobilised four fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where firefighters are working to extinguish a fire affecting a large area of gorse. There are no reported casualties at this time and crews remain at the scene.”
A similar fire at Arthur’s Seat broke out in 2019 and the fire service spent eight hours battling the affected area of about 800 sq metres.
The SFRS has issued several wildfire warnings this year as Scotland experiences a warm and dry summer.
The country was on the brink of severe water shortages earlier this year after the driest spring since 1964. It has a deficit of 60m litres a day during droughts but by 2050 that could hit 240m litres a day.
