Daviot wildfire burns next to back garden amid power cuts

Firefighters are battling a wildfire that broke retired successful the Highlands for a 2nd day.

The flames burned done the nighttime aft taking clasp adjacent the colony of Daviot, southbound of Inverness, astatine astir 14:45 connected Saturday.

Some homes and businesses adjacent to the occurrence country person been without powerfulness since Saturday arsenic a result.

The occurrence work and constabulary person urged radical to enactment indoors and adjacent each windows to forestall fume inhalation.

The blaze is astir 30 miles (48km) from Cannich - the tract of different caller wildfire, thought beryllium the largest recorded successful the UK.

Flames burned overnight arsenic crews attempted to effort to get the blaze nether power and support properties.

By aboriginal day connected Sunday, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said crews remained astatine the country to dampen down blistery spots and chopper h2o bombing was inactive successful operation.

One Daviot resident, whose backmost plot was feet distant from the blaze, told BBC Scotland that helium chose to instrumentality his household distant from the country for the night.

He said the powerfulness was inactive retired connected Sunday morning.

"Thankfully it has started to rainfall now. The occurrence fighters were brilliant, if they had been 5 minutes aboriginal I deliberation it could person been a antithetic story," helium said.

Power was besides retired astatine the adjacent Auchnahillin Holiday Park connected Sunday, wherever proprietor Anita Gibson had been monitoring the concern and taking proposal from the occurrence work overnight.

"We are truthful close, conscionable underneath the hill, truthful the flames were not truthful disposable for america but determination was a batch of smoke.

"The chopper was going overhead and dropping h2o up until astir 23:00 truthful it was reasonably noisy. I moved immoderate of our structure campers into caravans for the nighttime arsenic I was disquieted astir the smoke."

She said the occurrence seemed similar it was nether power connected her broadside of the elevation but was inactive burning into the moors.

She added: "The powerfulness is inactive disconnected but determination was nary harm to spot and we were gladsome to spot a spot of rainfall this morning.

"We cognize wildfires bash hap but it's not thing we thought would hap connected our doorstep. We are precise grateful to the exigency services."

SFRS had extended an alert for a "very high" hazard of wildfire until Monday.

Saturday was the hottest time of the twelvemonth for Scotland, aft 29.8°C was recorded successful Auchincruive, Ayrshire.

Duncan Macpherson, a Highland councillor for Inverness South, said firefighters were facing an "almighty challenge" connected Saturday night.

He tweeted: "The wildfire astatine Daviot southbound of Inverness stretches implicit a mile agelong betwixt Craggie and Moy and presents an almighty situation for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service to effort and incorporate arsenic the upwind blows the flames further crossed the landscape."

Scientist Dr Gail Millin-Chalabi told BBC One's The Sunday Show wildfires person go much communal successful caller years.

"One of the things to carnivore successful caput is we are seeing hotter, drier, longer summers successful the UK and this was predicted backmost successful 2013 erstwhile wildfire was archetypal identified arsenic a hazard successful the UK," she said.

"We are seeing larger, much terrible wildfires here. We had the largest fig of burnt areas of 30 hectares oregon larger successful 2022, with 151 successful full for the wildfire season."

She besides said that astir of the UK's wildfires were caused by accidental oregon deliberate ignition.

"We person grounds of that. And determination is decidedly a request to summation consciousness of wildfire hazard successful peatland, moorland and heathlands."

The Met Office has issued a yellowish alert lasting betwixt 12:00 and 21:00 BST.

Forecasters said conditions would see lightning strikes, beardown winds and "torrential" rainfall successful immoderate parts.