Fire service still doesn’t know cause of reed fire
A fire chief has revealed the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has still not identified the cause of a blaze which ripped through almost two miles of River Tay reed beds in April.
The reed bed along the banks of the River Tay, near Errol, was engulfed in flames on April 27 in a fire which took nine hours to extinguish.
At a virtual meeting of PKC’s housing and communities committee this week, it was revealed the cause of the blaze has still not been established.
SFRS group manager Billy McLintock was attending his last PKC meeting as he prepares to retire from the service.
He was asked by Perth City Centre SNP councillor Eric Drysdale if a cause of the reed bed fire had ever been discovered.
Mr McLintock said: “At this point there is no real cause for it.
“It’s down at this point as accidental because we can’t actually get to the bottom of where the source was.”
Mr McLintock told councillors it was a “fairly significant incident on a protected site.”
He added: “Thankfully, because it was a protected site around wildlife, we actually got some assistance to bring in a helicopter to extinguish it.
“As I am sure you are aware the risks out in that reed bed are substantial for any firefighter action so the helicopter was a massive help to resolve that incident quicker than we probably would have.”
Errol-based aircraft pilot Guy Stephens spotted the inferno from his kitchen window.
The helicopter hero then volunteered his own aircraft to battle the blaze, dowsing 77,000 litres of water on the enormous fire as it spread along the reed beds.
Perthshire residents reported witnessing the soaring plumes of smoke from as far away as Bankfoot and Dunning.
Earlier this year an RSPB Scotland spokesperson told the PA it could take 12-18 months for the reed bed habitat to recover.
The reed beds are a habitat for a variety of wildlife including marsh harriers, water rails and bearded tits.
Mr McLintock told councillors at Wednesday’s meeting: “Although there was a substantial amount of damage there, that will probably, over years, recover.”