Breaking: Fire chief ‘pretty much certain’ humans caused Arthur’s Seat fire in Edinburgh

Yesterday’s fire on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh was likely started by humans, according to a fire chief.

The fire started around 4pm on 10th August and burned through the night.

Neil MacLennan, a Scottish Fire and Rescue (SFRS) service group commander told BBC Radio’s Good Morning Scotland: “We don’t have specifics… but what we can pretty much be certain of is it would have been some sort of human behaviour or intervention of some sort.”

Reports initially indicated it was a wildfire caused by dry and warm conditions. Neil explained: “It’s very rare for any natural wildfires to start in this country.

“How that manifested we don’t know at this stage but there will have been some sort of human interaction and that’s part of the risk for that area – it is a busy area.

“The risk is there for that type of fire to start”.

The dormant volcano is a major tourist attraction, welcoming five million visitors each year. Edinburgh Live reported yesterday that hillwalkers were spotted running down hillsides to evade the growing fire.

Emergency services were called to a fire on Arthur’s Seat on Sunday afternoon and working through the night to tackle the blaze.

Historic Environment Scotland told The Tab Edinburgh at 8:50am that road closures issued yesterday afternoon have since been lifted.

However, people are still advised to avoid the area. No casualties have been reported so far.

A spokesperson for SFRS said: “Operations control mobilised four fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where the firefighters [were] working to extinguish a fire affecting a large area of gorse.”

Two fire crews remain on the scene this morning.

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Ben, a student at the University of Edinburgh, told The Tab that the fire appeared to have briefly “sparked up again” last night.

He said: “[I] cycled round Holyrood park on my way home from work last night.

“[The] fire sparked up again at 9:30pm but seemed to be out by 9:40pm, when I got turned back by police [due to a road closure].” The SFRS have been approached for comment on this.

Historic Environment Scotland, which oversees Holyrood Park and Arthur’s Seat, updated The Tab Edinburgh this morning that all roads in Holyrood Park usually accessible to public traffic have reopened following a review and a consultation with the emergency services.