‘Phenomenal’ fire crews hailed as Moray wildfires brought under control

The dedication of fire crews combatting four wildfires has been hailed as “phenomenal” by a senior officer.

Since Saturday crews from across the north have been battling raging blazes at Dava, Alves, Dallas and Knockando as tinder dry vegetation and windy conditions fanned the flames.

In addition to fire crews from Moray and the Highlands, teams from the likes of Aberdeen City, Perth and Kinross joined in the fight.

Group Commander Davie Hendry, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service’s Senior Officer for Moray, said he was “immensely proud” of the efforts of all the crew involved in bringing the fires under control.

Updating the situation, Mr Hendry said: “All of the fires are now under control although crews will remain on site for the next few days to come to deal with flare-ups or hot spots.

“Much of the ground is peat and this can ignite later after the main fire is out.

“A number of the fires at their height did come close to properties and some had to be evacuated as a precaution. The crews’ response was phenomenal.

“Over the weekend and into Monday we had 34 crews deployed at over a dozen wildfire incidents across the east Highlands and west Moray.

Paying tribute to the crews, Mr Hendry outlined some of the harsh conditions they faced to battle the blaze and keep the public safe.

He continued: “I am immensely proud of all the crews and wish to pay tribute to their dedication.

“The crews had to contend with some very challenging conditions with the wind being the largest single factor we faced. There was also heat and smoke.

“However, the crews train for situations like this and have access to specialist resources, equipment and protective gear to allow them to do their job.

“It’s been very physically demanding with crews on average doing shifts of four to six hours before being rotated out.

“Due to the terrain, access was also an issue at times, but again we have the specialist equipment to get around this.

“Many of the crews tackling these fires are on-call. These are our firefighters who have a primary employment and respond to a pager when a fire call comes in. I want to thank the families, who undoubtedly missed some family time, for their support over the weekend.

“The local employers, who release their staff to respond to a fire call, play a significant part in supporting their communities and we are grateful to them for this support. Particularly at large scale incidents like these where, a releasing employers work may be disruptive, their contribution is highly valued.

“The community spirit shown within west Highlands and Moray during this spell has been fantastic, with communities donating water and snacks for the crews.

“I would also like to record our appreciation to land owners, estate workers, game keepers and community asset volunteers who worked with and supported the firefighters.”

Mr Hendry went on to give special credit to the team at the fire service’s operations centre in Dundee for not only helping to co-ordinate the wildfire fight but also ensure there was cover in place for other fires and incidents.

He said: “I want to highlight the outstanding work of our operations control staff, which is often unseen by the public.

“They play a significant role in ensuring our appliances are moved to support incidents, rotated for welfare and cover is maintained for business as usual incidents.

“There were many other incidents happening concurrently to the wildfires, which our control staff were resourcing. This shows the unique reach of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service with the ability to move staff and resources all over Scotland to support.

“The control room have a plan for incidents such as these and it’s like a big game of chess moving resources around to ensure there’s cover where it’s needed.”

The SFRS are currently recruiting across some of our on-call stations with varying contracts available. If there are people out there who want to get involved in their communities by becoming an on-call firefighter, more details can be found on http://www.firescotland.gov.uk or by getting in contact with your local crew.