Devastating fire rips through 60 acres of heath

A 60-acre wildfire came close to a town in the Highlands popular with climbers on Easter Sunday, and devastated an area the size of 34 football pitches.

No-one was harmed in the blaze, near Kinlochleven, Scottish Highlands, a town often visited by winter sports enthusiasts.

Firefighters were alerted at 10pm on Easter Sunday, to reports of the blaze which ripped through heath and scrubland.

Some 11 firefighters were still at the scene 12 hours after fire broke out.

An SFRS spokesman said the blaze had been difficult to deal with as pockets of the scrubland were inaccessible.

On Sunday, firefighters had been tackling a wildfire just outside of Rosehearty, near Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire.

According to SFRS, the fire was in three separate “sectors” with the largest measuring 500 metres by 300 metres.

The incident followed several wildfires across the country in the past week, including one at Durness in the Highlands, leading to properties being evacuated.

A forest fire at Dalmellington in East Ayrshire took three days to put out while a blaze near Aberlour, Moray, took firefighters two days to get under control due to high winds.