Funds plea to fight wildfires

SCOTS firefighters are appealing for extra funding to tackle wildfires after the hours they spent tackling them rose substantially over a decade.

Firefighters spent 5,332 hours – the equivalent of 222 days – battling blazes across the country last year. That is a rise of 750 per cent from 626 hours in 2009-10, according to figures from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS).

The SFRS says it needs cash for helicopters to water-bomb blazes and is seeking talks with the Scottish Government.

SFRS area manager Bruce Farquharson said: ‘We are seeking to engage with the Government to see if resources can be made available to assist with operations – in particular, the provision of helicopters.

‘The fire service doesn’t own helicopters. What we rely on at the moment is landowners having insurance that will cover the cost of the hire of helicopters.

‘So we’re trying to see if we can get a bit smarter around that and see what other opportunities are available to us.’