Fierce five-mile wildfire sparked by 'tropical' temperatures in the Scottish Highlands
dailyrecord.co.ukFreak weather conditions sparked a five-mile wildfire in the Scottish Highlands as locals basked in a tropical 18 degrees. The blaze took hold close to Assynt, near Lochinver, Sutherland, on Sunday afternoon as the region was battered by wind gusts of up to 70mph.A power line was brought down and set fire to the vegetation which had begun to dry out thanks to the unseasonably warm temperature.
The Met Office has provisionally confirmed a new UK January temperature record in nearby Kinlochewe where the mercury soared to 19.6C on January 28.Eyewitness Lewis MacAskill, chair of The Assynt Foundation, told the Record how the “bizarre” weather conditions resulted in the fire moving “rapidly” towards a village.
He said: “We had very unusual weather up on the west coast. It was about 18 degrees in the middle of the day combined with winds gusting between 60 and 70mph.“We’re standing there in our t-shirts in January - it was just bizarre.
The fire seems to have started as a result of a low-voltage power line breaking off in the wind. The cable came into contact with the ground and it appears to have created a live short and that’s what started the fire.“Although the damp conditions were damp, the high temperature meant the fire was just catching whatever dry vegetation that was lying on the ground.
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