Hundreds call in gorse blaze

THE fire service received almost 300 calls to alert them to a gorse fire on Arthur's Seat last night.

Firefighters from Marionville raced to tackle the blaze just after 8pm, but had to retreat for safety reasons because it was too close to Salisbury Crags.

They closed the area and monitored the fire until it burned itself out. By the time the flames had gone out at around 11:30pm, the fire service had received 267 calls.

In a separate incident, residents close to Drem Airfield in East Lothian were warned to stay in their homes on Thursday as firefighters fought flames in two buildings.

It was feared the fire could ignite three gas cannisters at the site, causing an explosion, but the flames were successfully fought.