Nethy Bridge: Residents allowed to return after evacuation from Cairngorms wildfire

Residents of the village of Nethy Bridge, near the wildfire that has been burning in the Cairngorms, have been told they can return to their homes after being evacuated on Friday night.

The fire was declared a major incident due to a change in weather, but that has now been stood down by Police Scotland.

First Minister John Swinney said the government and emergency services will continue to treat the blaze with the utmost seriousness until the last flames are out.

Locals have criticised the handling of the wildfire, which has been burning for 10 days, saying the move to declare it a major incident came too late and the government had been slow in scaling up their response.

In a statement on Saturday night, Police Scotland said “after an extensive multi-agency response to a large fire within Cairngorms National Park, residents of Nethy Bridge are being advised that they can now return to their properties”.

Police Scotland’s deputy assistant chief officer, Kenny Barbour, said the decision to stand down the major incident followed a detailed assessment by emergency responders.

He added in a statement: “The extensive work carried out over recent days, including the creation of effective fire breaks, has significantly reduced the risk to nearby communities, allowing evacuated residents to safely return home.”

Supt Judy Hill added that the “ongoing multi agency response remains a high priority, with significant partnership resources and volunteers working tirelessly and in challenging circumstances, to support our efforts to extinguish the fires”.

Firefighters will continue to maintain a significant operational presence until the incident is safely concluded, with 75 remaining on the ground on Saturday, police said.

At a meeting of the Scottish government’s resilience room on Saturday evening, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said there had been “good progress” in strengthening fire breaks to protect residential areas and said the number of fire hot spots was reducing.

First Minister John Swinney welcomed the lifting of the evacuation notice but stressed that “the Scottish Government, the emergency services and all relevant authorities will continue to treat this wildfire, as has been the case since its onset, with the utmost seriousness and necessary resources until the last flames are out.”