Fire up the hill

[Ross]

Some contolled buring was being done on the hillside behind Glenramskill and the hillside adjacent to the Nato jetty. At some point during the afternoon it wasnt under control and the firebrigade were called in to assist. Took a couple of pictures of the remains of the fire that was still on the go at 2100hrs.

[Malky]

And only 3 days till the end of the burning season (15th). Problem is, there is so little burning done now that when you do burn there is so much rank vegetation that it's too easy for it to get out of control. And there's so much forestry now that if a fire gets away on you, it can have catastrophic results.

A few years ago, I was burning part of the hill on the farm here and the wind got up. In a matter of minutes the fire had travelled from one side of the hill to the other, jumped over the firebreaks I had burnt a couple of days earlier, jumped across a burn and was burning in among the trees on the edge of a forest that stretches for about 3 miles. Luckily as the fire reached the trees, the wind died right down and the fires started to go out. I called out the fire brigade and they came and helped put it all out. Cost me 4 crates of beer to quench the thirst the firemen built up that day

But it could have been a lot worse - only about an acre was singed. When I spoke to the forestry commission the next day, they told me the forest was valued at £20 million. I only have £10 million public liability so there would have been a bit of a shortfall

[jdcarra]

Carradale Fire appliance just back in village after being on standby at Campbeltown Fire Station whilst they were out fighting the fire with with other appliances brought into the area, 5 units in total.Firefighters taken off the hill as darkness came down for safety reasons, but fought most of the fire well and brought under control. As Ross mentioned small part still burning but hopfully will not cause any problem.
With the recent dry spell it is very easy for a small burning to get out of hand as may have happened today and as mentioned by Malky there is just three days left of the annual burning period.

[EileenH]

The fire at Glenramskill looked to be going out of control when I came home at lunchtime yesterday. You could see huge flames in the air at the top of the hill from the road. Obviously, like me, folk presumed that if the farmer felt it was out of control he would have phoned the fire brigade. It was after four before a fire appliance came along. I know the firemen came off the hill around nine o'clock but they were still around during the night. I last saw one at around eight o'clock this morning. I've never seen so many cars along this way! There must be some amount of damage on the farmland.

[petewick]

Flaming awful!