Geograph - photograph every grid square

On the afternoon of Saturday 28 June 2025 the alarm was raised when, allegedly, a camp fire got out of control somewhere near Loch Allan on Dava Moor. A second fire started near Carrbridge. Strong winds fanned the flames and drove the fires on for many miles. At one point the Dava fire was said to be 6 miles long, and it reached the Paul's Hill wind farm near Knockando.

Firefighters were deployed from a very wide area, assisted by gamekeepers and volunteers who could provide suitable extra vehicles and equipment. They used specialist equipment like all-terrain vehicles, tractors with flails or water tanks, fogging units, beaters and leaf blowers on the ground. The fire was not brought under control until the third day, though pockets of peat continued to smoulder for days afterwards.

On Sunday 29 June 11 fire appliances were in action. On Monday 30 June this increased to 34, plus 3 helicopters water-bombing the fires. On Tuesday 1 July 8 appliances were still in attendance, and although the crisis had passed by Wednesday 2 July, an appliance was still on standby in the vicinity.

To prevent traffic getting caught in the fire or hindering the emergency services, the B9007 was closed from Duthil to Ferness, the A939 Grantown-on-Spey to Ferness, the A940 at Dava, and the B9102 Grantown-on-Spey to Upper Knockando and Dallas. The snowgates at Carrbridge were also closed.

A pall of smoke was visible well beyond the area immediately affected, and residents over a large area of Highland and as far away as Elgin and Lossiemouth in Moray were advised to keep their windows and doors closed against smoke, and to keep pets indoors.

This episode has been described as the largest single wildfire in the history of Scotland. Fortunately, no buildings were damaged and there are no reports of anyone being injured, but 7,500 hectares (75 square kilometres/ nearly 30 square miles) of moor and forest were burned, destroying a vast quantity of plant and animal wildlife.

There is a splendid blog at
Link but when you click on the link it defaults to the most recent blog item so you need to navigate to July 2025 and select the Dava Moor Fires.

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