Isle of Skye wildfire: Dramatic pictures show crews tackling ongoing fire on Scottish island

Flames continue to sweep across one of Scotland’s islands in what fire crews have described as “a very big wildfire.”

Firefighters are still battling a blaze at the Quiraing, a mountain on the Isle of Skye, after they were called to the incident on Friday, 12 February.

Crews have been in the area for about 24 hours tackling the flames, the cause of which remains unconfirmed.

Crew commander Scott MacLucas-Paton, who has been at the scene, took photographs of the wildfire as it continues to sweep across part of the island on Saturday evening.

Dramatic pictures show wildfire at Quiraing mountain on the Isle of Skye on Saturday night picture: Scott J MacLucas-Paton

"We have had multiple fires on Skye over the past four days,” he said.

"This one is at Quiraing.

"Crews turned out yesterday and fought it until darkness then monitored it through the night, then fresh crews fought all today and we are having it monitored tonight also.”

The fire crew member said other incidents have been reported at Bernisdale, Luib and also Fiscavaig as well as Broadford on the island.

Flames have been sweeping across the Quiraing on the Isle of Skye for the last 24 hours picture: Scott MacLucas-Paton

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman confirmed wildfires on the Isle of Skye have been “very big” in the last few days with crews spending more than 24 hours tackling several, some of which are still ongoing.

One fire near Portree, the island’s capital, started at about 3pm on Friday, 12 February and is still going more than 24 hours later.

The spokeswoman confirmed four appliances were initially in attendance, but the operation has scaled back to just two this evening.

Residents on the Isle of Lewis were urged to keep their doors and windows shut as fire crews were called to extinguish a major wildfire on the island on Saturday, the fire service confirmed.

SFRS area commander Bruce Farquharson warned on Wednesday that despite the freezing temperatures, parts of the west coast are vulnerable to wildfires.

He said: “There may have been a lot of snow in the eastern and central areas of Scotland, but that is not the case in the western coastal areas and fuel conditions are very different.

“At this time of year, we typically have a large volume of dead, bone-dry vegetation left over – which essentially acts as a fuel for fire.

“As a result, there are currently vast areas of countryside all over the country that are tinder dry and vulnerable, this provides all of the ingredients for fire to take hold and spread.

“We are asking the public to exercise extreme caution and think twice before using anything involving a naked flame.”

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