Trees destroyed in Scone grass blaze
Emergency crews praised for quick response
Hundreds of trees are believed to have been destroyed in a fire which broke out on the edge of a housing estate in Scone.
People living in the Balgarvie estate were quick to call firefighters on Tuesday afternoon after spotting smoke coming from the direction of Bonhard Road.
It soon became clear a grass fire had started in an area where hundreds of young trees had been planted which one eyewitness said spread over 100 yards “within minutes”.
Andrew Forbes, chairman of the Balgarvie Owners’ Association, told the PA: “It was consuming the dry dead grass, the young saplings and the plastic holders and wooden supports.
“One neighbour used a garden hose to dampen the fire that spread right along the embankment over 100 yards within minutes due to the south-east wind and the dead grass between the young bushes and trees.
“Thankfully, the fire brigade arrived shortly after 5pm, quickly beating the burning dead grass and dousing it with their hose that stretched along virtually the whole area.”
Assessing the damage done Mr Forbes continued: “It is estimated that there is fatal damage to about one thousand trees stretching from above the substation in the Gilmartin cultivated section along to the established tree belt just below the Balgarvie Farm.
“The hawthorn hedge running behind David Douglas Avenue has been badly scorched but looks like it may recover depending on how deep the heat damage is.”
Mr Forbes went on to claim that site managers the Greenbelt Group’s “indiscriminate use of weedkiller” seemed to have created tinder dry conditions and “the opportunity for the rapid spread of fire”.
But its regional operations manager, Donald Ferguson, rejected this claim, saying: “It seems some branches, which were cut by someone unknown, has provided the dry material for the outbreak, although what or who caused that is unknown at the moment.
“The area in question has in recent
Firefighters tackling the spread of the grass fire near the Balgarvie estate in Scone years been subject to a replanting project which was really beginning to take shape.”
Mr Ferguson went on to claim he had evidence of vandalism “caused by residents either cutting down trees themselves or kids on the development pulling saplings out and leaving piles of supports around the woodland”.
“The contractor is constantly removing debris from young woodland areas because of this and it is something we address almost every visit,” he added.