Official Report 780KB pdf
The next item of business is a statement by Jim Fairlie on a wildfire summit. The minister will take questions at the end of his statement, so there should be no interventions or interruptions.
14:26
I am here today to update the Parliament on the outcomes of the recent ministerial wildfire summit, which was held on 14 October in Grantown-on-Spey. The summit was a culmination of a series of engagements, including the Scottish multi-agency resilience training and exercise unit debrief, the ministerial debrief with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, and cross-public sector meetings on wildfires. Those events reflect the seriousness with which the Government treats the growing threat of wildfires across Scotland.
This year, Scotland has experienced its most severe wildfire season in recent memory. So far this year, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has recorded a total of 241 wildfire incidents. There was a sharp spike in activity in April, with 109 recorded in that month alone. The fires between 28 June and 2 July were described as the largest in living memory, with flames reaching 20m in length and jumping up to 750m.
Those incidents underscore the scale of the challenge that we face. Wildfires are no longer a seasonal hazard; they are a climate-driven crisis that is placing immense pressure on our rural communities, our emergency services and the natural environment. They devastate landscapes, threaten people’s homes and businesses, threaten biodiversity, damage critical infrastructure and release vast amounts of carbon.
Scotland’s rural terrain, which is rich in biodiversity and extensive peatlands and woodlands, makes us uniquely vulnerable. When those landscapes burn, that undoes years of climate progress in a matter of hours. However, when restored and managed properly, they can act as powerful carbon sinks and natural firebreaks.
Land managers and gamekeepers are on the front line of wildfire prevention and response. We owe them a debt of gratitude for the valuable role that they have always played in controlling wildfires. Their intimate knowledge of the land and terrain remains crucial. That is why we must strike a balance that recognises their expertise, supports sustainable practices and enables them to work in partnership with the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.
Controlled burning, when done responsibly, plays a vital role in creating firebreaks and reducing fuel loads. To that end, we have delayed until September 2026 the implementation of the muirburn licensing scheme. That decision reflects our commitment to ensuring that gamekeepers and land managers can continue to manage land appropriately in light of increased wildfire risk. The licensing scheme will help us to build a stronger evidence base, improve safety and reduce the risk of damaging effects. We are also reviewing land management plans and considering stronger requirements for wildfire mitigation, including guidance for both public and private landowners.
The wildfire summit and associated meetings identified several key themes and actions. However, it is clear that prevention must come first. There is strong support for a wildfire warning system, similar to flood and storm alerts. That would improve public understanding and preparedness. A national campaign will be explored, using behavioural science and lessons from Covid-19 communications to tailor messaging for different audiences.
We will look to develop Scotland-specific fire risk models, moving away from reliance on Canadian data. That includes integrating wildfire layers into the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s community risk index model. We are also evaluating the unintended consequences of alternative land management practices that may increase fire risk to determine how those policies can better align to Scotland’s increasing wildfire risk.
We must strengthen our preparedness. A gap in multi-agency training was identified. We will work with the Scottish multi-agency resilience training and exercising unit to develop a national table-top exercise and to improve preparedness in a truly collaborative way across all agencies. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has invested £1.6 million in wildfire response assets, including personal protective equipment, all-terrain vehicles, fogging units and drones. Further investment is currently being considered. We are exploring a mountain rescue-style voluntary response model, with trained wildfire wardens to support local efforts.
We must enhance co-ordination. A shared concept of operations will be developed to clarify roles and responsibilities across agencies, supported by the Scottish Government resilience room, local resilience partnerships and regional resilience partnerships. We are reviewing helicopter access protocols, including through exploration of the potential for a central budget, contractual arrangements and a trump card approach to ensure that public sector needs are prioritised.
Improvements are needed in communication, interoperability and improved command and control arrangements across large-scale incidents. We will strengthen co-ordination and ensure that all responders understand their roles, including through priority communications with affected residents and those who may be at risk in a wildfire event.
We must empower communities and volunteers. The community asset register remains a vital tool to help us achieve that, so we will look into what is required to expand its use and to overcome barriers to adding new assets and volunteers. Landowners and land managers conducting muirburn must notify the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service before and after burns to ensure full situational awareness.
We must address issues around insurance and liability. We are working to overcome barriers related to insurance coverage for wildfire response. That includes clarifying liability and ensuring that responders are not penalised for taking action. We recognise the financial impact that wildfires are having on rural businesses, so we are providing grant funding of up to £10,000 through the Cairngorms National Park Authority to replace damaged equipment.
We are committed to ensuring that emergency services and land managers are properly resourced. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service strategy includes continued investment in training and upskilling, and we will support that through policy and funding alignment. The Scottish Government has increased the service’s annual budget to £412.2 million for 2026, which is an increase of more than £19 million since 2017.
The summit concluded with a clear mandate for action, and the following steps are now under way. We will finalise the Scottish multi-agency resilience training and exercising unit debrief, and we will publish its recommendations in full. We will develop a collaborative outline proposal to consolidate actions and to guide future strategy. We will review legislation, including national byelaws and fire-related product restrictions. We will continue to engage with land managers, insurers, emergency services and all key partners involved to refine our approach. We will also hold a round table with MSPs on 18 November so that they can share their views with us.
Let me take a moment to thank the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, gamekeepers, land managers, volunteers, local authorities, the wider land management sector and local communities. Their efforts in tackling this year’s wildfires have been nothing short of heroic.
The Government is committed to working with our rural communities to tackle the very real wildfire threat that is facing us. Through the right planning, the right investment and the right leadership, we will build a more resilient Scotland. We will continue to listen, to learn and to act. I look forward to updating Parliament on our progress in the months ahead.
The wildfires that we experienced in Moray and Highland in June this year were simply devastating. It is thanks to the heroic efforts of the Fire and Rescue Service, estate workers, gamekeepers, farm workers, forestry workers, volunteers and communities that they were brought under control. As I have said privately to both ministers, I believe that we were also lucky, as we got a downpour one night that put out most of the fires. At times, despite the heroic efforts, the fire was getting away from the professionals and those seeking to bring it under control.
It is a welcome update from the summit, but I say gently to the minister—I exclude myself from this, because I know that I would not be invited to a summit with this minister—that there were certain estates and people within the sector who were bitterly disappointed that they were not included in the summit. I hope that the minister will consider that point.
There is clearly an issue with capacity in the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service—it needed the help and support of many other organisations to get the fires under control. What consideration have the minister and the Government given to a dedicated wildfires unit in the SFRS?
In his statement, the minister spoke about reviewing protocols for helicopters. Can we get more information on that? It is not widely known that the helicopters that assisted in that wildfire were drawn upon only because of the insurance that was held by the estates; they could draw down on that insurance to use those helicopters.
The minister mentioned reviewing insurance. We are hearing that insurers are unwilling or unable to provide cover for employees or equipment if employees are fighting fires on land owned by a third party. We need more than just a review; we need the minister to tell us what will happen to resolve the issue.
At the same time that our firefighters were dealing with the wildfires on Dava and coming into Moray, we had more deliberate fires, particularly in Lossiemouth, draining away resources. What is the Government doing to tackle deliberate fires? Since 2017, 50 deliberate fires have been recorded at Sunbank quarry in Lossiemouth. We need far greater punishment for those who are deliberately setting fires, because it is drawing away resources and is a huge concern.
There are a number of questions in there. I take on board the point about the restriction on the number of people who came to the round table. That was done deliberately, so that we could have a proper open discussion about what processes we would take forward, and I think that we did that.
Douglas Ross also said that he would never be invited to a round table that I was hosting. [Interruption.] He is invited to the round table that I am holding this week—he has already been invited to that. [Interruption.]
Members—no sedentary interruptions, please.
On the fire service’s capacity, we have to bear in mind that the scale of wildfires is such that it absolutely requires the knowledge and the resilience of the local community, as well as the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. There is a service review of the SFRS at the moment to look specifically at changing needs in relation to what the service delivers.
I absolutely take on board the point about helicopter provision. That is why it is in the review. We are looking at whether there could be a trump card that would allow us to say that, on a particular occasion, we need that helicopter more than somebody else.
As far as insurance is concerned, clearly, that sits with private companies. We continue to have that dialogue and I will be happy to update members and the people who are looking for that insurance in due course.
As far as deliberate fire setting is concerned, that very much involves a police response, and I would expect Police Scotland to deal with that appropriately.
This summer, Scotland experienced the greatest number of wildfires in living memory, with more than 200 incidents. Lives, livelihoods and ecosystems are under mounting threat. The carbon released will have a devastating impact on climate change.
The Government’s investment in equipment is welcome, but it does not go far enough. Many retained fire stations do not have decontamination equipment, meaning that those who fight fires are returning home with contaminated clothing, which not only puts themselves at risk but creates risk for their families. Also, there is no mention at all in the statement of the Fire Brigades Union. Most retained fire stations are not fully staffed, so developing a further voluntary service seems impossible.
We now know, as Douglas Ross has said, that gamekeepers and others are not insured if they help to fight wildfires on neighbouring properties. In the interim, will the Government provide insurance cover for people and equipment, whatever their source, to help with controlling wildfires? That is needed now, otherwise we will be in a really difficult situation. Will the minister also ensure that all fire stations have decontamination equipment to be used for all those who are working to control wildfires?
Again, the question raises a number of points. As far as capacity is concerned, there will always be a requirement to have local people on standby. That is why we are looking to set up an organisation that is similar to Scottish Mountain Rescue to deal with wildfires, so that appropriate training is given in the same way as it is for mountain rescue teams.
I am not entirely convinced that people cannot get insurance. We are still looking into the details of that, and if they cannot, we will take steps to work out how we can get a resolution to the matter.
With regard to the service delivery review, which I spoke about in my previous answer to Douglas Ross, that is all part of the on-going work by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. The SFRS is very alive to the fact that the demands on it are changing, and it is therefore changing the way that it works.
Between 10 and 13 April, a decade’s worth of conservation work by the National Trust for Scotland was wiped out after a wildfire in Arran’s Glen Rosa destroyed 27,000 trees. The glen is home to three rare species of Arran whitebeam trees, with only 407 specimens in existence pre-fire. The fire was devastating to Arran’s ecology; volunteers replanted thousands of trees, but recovery will take years.
Given the increasing frequency and severity of wildfires as a result of climate change, what measures will the Scottish Government take to support ecological restoration and protect diversity in fragile impacted areas?
We do an awful lot of that work already. As my colleague Kenneth Gibson talked about, in 2018, the National Trust for Scotland began restoring native woodlands to improve the biodiversity in Glen Rosa in Arran. That work included erecting deer fencing and planting trees with a volunteer workforce.
The wildfire in Glen Rosa began on 10 April and lasted until 13 April; it is estimated that it killed thousands of trees, and it has had a significant impact. NatureScot has started to replant and revitalise the area, using volunteers.
In reducing the incidence and impact of wildfires in forests and woodlands through good management, planning is important to protect the delivery of those forest ecosystems and goods services. That is why we are looking at ensuring that we have proper wildfire resilience and why we have pulled all that work together, and I very much hope that those actions will allow us to be resilient in the future.
As one of the few members in the Parliament who has written muirburn plans and actually undertaken muirburn in fighting wildfires, I am shocked by the Government’s long-term plan to shorten the muirburn season. Wetter springs and higher winds mean that that is absolute madness.
Surely, in the light of the fires that we have heard about, we should be undertaking more muirburn over a longer period, without affecting nature, to ensure that we do not have fires that damage people’s houses and threaten people’s lives.
I think that Edward Mountain is trying to make the point that muirburn is a silver bullet, but it is not. It is not a panacea, by any stretch of the imagination. We saw that in Dava: it did not matter whether the land was rewilded or forested or whether it was peatland or moorland—the fire went through every single type of managed landscape and beyond.
There is absolutely no doubt that muirburn plays its role, and that is exactly why I paused the scheme to bring in licensing. We are reviewing those processes right now and we will continue to ensure that we give the land managers and the keepers the tools that they need in order to help us to combat wildfire in the future.
In April this year, there was a significant wildfire at Palacerigg country park in my constituency—a reminder that wildfire is not just a phenomenon of the summer months. How is the Scottish Government engaging with local authorities such as North Lanarkshire Council to consider preventative measures that are perhaps akin to the new byelaws that have been put in place in the Cairngorms?
Jamie Hepburn raises a good point. The new byelaws that have been put in place in the Cairngorms national park will prohibit outdoor fires and barbecues within the park between April and September, although camping stoves and barbecues will continue to be allowed. The public consultation by the Cairngorms National Park Authority on the draft wording of the byelaws was carried out in 2024, and 79 per cent of respondents indicated their support for the introduction of fire management byelaws.
We will absolutely be talking to local authorities and other agencies to ensure that we have that national resilience in place. People need to understand that we are now living in a very different world—wildfire is a threat, and we all need to be aware of it. We need to get the message out there, and we need people to understand that wildfire is now a real threat in Scotland. I hope that, by raising these issues in Parliament, we will get that message out to the people of Scotland.
I welcome the round table and the focus on preventing wildfires as the climate emergency is increasing the vulnerability of our land. It is good to hear that funding will be increasing, given the real-terms cut of £56 million in recent years.
Will the minister acknowledge that we need to look at both urban and rural challenges, as our fire services are under huge pressure dealing with wildfires, storms and flooding? Will he agree to look at investment across the country so that we do not lose services, as we would with the current proposal to close Marionville fire station, which is minutes away from Arthur’s Seat?
I take Ms Boyack’s point on board. The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is looking at the changes in its demands, which include wildfire and flooding.
As I have stated, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has put £1.6 million into making sure that it has the equipment, such as fogging units and four-by-four vehicles, that it needs in order to combat wildfires as and when they strike.
Recent wildfires have spread far and fast. Will the minister set out what action the Government can take to support small and large landowners to manage their land to mitigate wildfire risk?
There are a number of things that the Scottish Government can do, but the vast majority of what needs to be done to mitigate that risk is down to the management plans of the landowners. What concerns me is that some land managers are not including any consideration of fire risks in their thinking on their land management plans, so we must look at that.
The Scottish Government will work across the country to make sure that we have fire resilience in every area and that we have warning systems in place that will allow people to know that there is a potential risk at that given time.
Motivated by the climate-driven increase in wildfires earlier this year, I obtained data through a freedom of information request that showed that out-of-control intentional burning, such as muirburn, was the fourth most common cause of wildfires in Scotland over the past five years.
However, the vast majority of wildfires recorded by the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service have no known cause. Given the growing threat that wildfires pose to communities and nature, will the minister commit to increasing funding and resources for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, in order to improve investigation and data collection, and better inform our prevention strategies?
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is well enough equipped to carry out the work, and it has given us a list of the numbers of fires that it has been called out to deal with this year.
Ariane Burgess made a point about muirburn. One reason why we must bring in a licensing scheme is to ensure that, when people carry out muirburn, they know the right conditions in which to do it, the right way to do it and the days when they should not do it.
This is probably the right time to point out that, literally within hours of me pausing the licensing scheme earlier this year, a purposefully set fire on the Dinnet estate became out of control. The individual who set that fire did not have any training and did not have a licence to do it, because we did not have a licensing scheme.
That indicates to me that we are on the right road. We need to ensure that the licensing scheme is workable and operable, that it gets to the right people and that people know how to do muirburn properly in order to help us to prevent wildfires.
We can be in no doubt that the climate is changing and that preparation will be our best tool to prevent and limit dangerous wildfires in the future. Shetland, with its oceanic climate, faced an extreme wildfire warning this July. That is a scenario that has been increasing in recent years.
How will the Scottish Government ensure and be confident that the measures that the minister has outlined in his statement today are able to be replicated in island and rural areas, whose communities often have smaller populations?
Beatrice Wishart raises a good point, because that is now a national objective for all of us. She makes a point about the unusual circumstances in Shetland, but we face unusual circumstances across the country. We are not used to seeing the level of wildfires that we saw in April this year.
That confirms that the work that Siobhian Brown and I have been doing to put together a package of measures is allowing us to build into the system a resilience that will ensure that every part of the country has the protection that it needs.
The suggestion of a mountain rescue-type service is welcome, but, as someone who served in a mountain rescue team for about a decade, albeit in a different century, I assure the minister that it would take several decades for a voluntary model to develop. That is just fact.
We need an urgent solution to tackle wildfires more effectively to be in place by next spring. I put this to the minister in writing at the weekend. I have had detailed discussions with various parties, including a land manager and a keeper—who, between them, have about a century of experience—who have a specific proposal. Would the minister be willing to meet them and me, as I think that their proposal could be a serious part of the answer and could save lives to boot?
I received Fergus Ewing’s letter. I take on board the point that building a mountain rescue team might not be an overnight solution, but it is certainly something that we need to start doing now.
With regard to the request for a meeting, I have forwarded to my officials the sensible and detailed list of proposals that Fergus Ewing put forward. I have asked them to look at the proposals, and we will respond in due course.
The minister is aware that I have made multiple inquiries about the potential to ban the use of disposable barbecues at a Government level. The Cairngorms National Park Authority has taken a lead and introduced a local byelaw, but if we are serious about reducing risk and preventing wildfires, banning disposable barbecues is a clear action that can be taken nationwide, or at least in our most vulnerable areas where there is woodland, peat or a greater likelihood for fire to damage agricultural and other rural businesses. Is the minister able to give any further update or reassurance on whether the Scottish Government will consider such a ban?
The Cairngorms National Park Authority has brought in such a byelaw, and local authorities are in a position to do the same. What Ms Roddick has suggested is one of the considerations that we are looking at as we go through the process of gathering information. If Ms Roddick is at the round-table meeting that we will have later on this week, we can perhaps put more flesh on the bones as to what that might look like or whether there are any barriers to us being able to do so.
As well as the incidents that Kenny Gibson and Beatrice Wishart mentioned, in 2022, a wildfire on Gruinard island burned from one end of the island to the other in what was described as an “apocalyptic” scene. Who attended the wildfire summit specifically to represent island communities? What additional support is the Government providing or considering to protect our island communities?
I have the list of people who attended the wildfire summit here in front of me. There were about eight or nine people from the Scottish Government and its agencies. There were another 10 people who were either fire experts or from the emergency services. There was a group of land managers, there were environmental non-governmental organisations and there were insurance companies, as well as gamekeepers.
Was there a specific island resident in attendance? I would guess that there might have been somebody there who lived on an island, but we did not look at this as a specific island issue. That is because, as I have already said, we are talking about a national effort; it is not just about islands. The islands will be included in the same level—[Interruption.]
Members, let the minister respond.
The islands will be included in the same level of consideration as every other part of Scotland.
This April, a massive wildfire struck Galloway in the heart of the forest park. Thankfully, no one was injured and no lives were lost. The work of the local community in Glentrool was highly helpful to responders such as the Fire and Rescue Service and Galloway Mountain Rescue Team. Will the minister outline how the Scottish Government is encouraging partnership working across communities and responders, not just for wildfires but for other issues in our rural communities?
That issue is one of the things that I have tried to get across from the start. There has to be a partnership and co-ordinated approach right across Scotland, whether that is with gamekeepers, land managers, local authorities or the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. It takes all of us to get behind the project of ensuring that we build resilience in our fire and rescue services and in our local communities. That is something that we will continue to do through the SMARTEU work. It is also why we are having the round-table meeting with MSPs, who will bring their own perspectives. We will continue to build resilience so that we have actions in place that are ready for us at the start of next spring.
The wildfire in Galloway forest park scorched approximately 6,500 hectares, or approximately 25 square miles. The fact that it accounted for nearly a quarter of all the land burned across the country made it one of the largest wildfires in the United Kingdom that year, yet there was no mention of representation from Dumfries and Galloway, Galloway forest park or south of Scotland stakeholders in any report from the summit.
The minister stated that £1.6 million has already been invested in wildfire response, including PPE and all-terrain vehicles, and that other investment is being considered. Will the minister clarify whether any wildfire response investment has been made in Galloway and whether any future investment will be delivered in my constituency? Given the strange emphasis on the Cairngorms national park in the grant funding scheme, will similar financial support be extended to rural businesses in Galloway that are affected by wildfires?
I think that Finlay Carson has pointed out, as have other members, that the wildfire danger that we face is not just in Galloway or in the islands—it stretches from one end of Scotland to the other. Therefore, we are taking a national approach.
We did not invite every area of Scotland to the wildfire summit, because—[Interruption.]
Mr Carson, please let the minister respond to the question.
We did not invite people from all over the country to attend; we invited people who had the expertise and the understanding of how we will manage wildfires and build wildfire resilience across the country. That does not mean to say that the issues in Galloway are not as important as the issues in Dava. It means that every part of Scotland must be resilient. We must ensure that we have provisions in place, which is why we are doing the work that we are, and we will deliver that next year.
That concludes the statement.
On a point of order, Presiding Officer. The minister repeatedly said that the stakeholder meeting with MSPs will take place later this week. In my diary, I have it down as taking place on Tuesday of next week. I wonder whether that can be corrected for the record, if I am right.
Perhaps the minister could contact all members to clarify the position.
There will be a short pause before we move on to the next item of business.