FINLAY CARSON: The SNP government was WARNED about Highland wildfires but DIDN'T act before disaster struck

Published: 21:41, 26 July 2026 | Updated: 21:47, 26 July 2026 As smoke continues to hang over the Cairngorms and firefighters battle one of the largest wildfires Scotland has ever seen, the SNP Government has been scrambling to explain what went wrong. But having chaired Holyrood’s inquiry into Scotland’s preparedness for wildfires only a few months ago, I know one thing for certain: ministers cannot claim they weren’t warned. Long before flames tore across the Highlands, forcing evacuations and threatening communities, Scotland’s leading wildfire experts, senior firefighters, scientists and land managers came before the Scottish Parliament with a clear message. Wildfire is no longer an occasional rural emergency. It is becoming one of Scotland’s defining resilience challenges, and government needed to start treating it that way. The evidence was compelling. The warnings were unambiguous. Yet today, as brave firefighters continue risking their lives on the frontline, the public is entitled to ask whether those warnings were ever translated into action. Our committee heard from Assistant Chief Officer Jon Henderson of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, who explained that following last year’s devastating Dava wildfire, a national action plan had been developed around prevention, preparedness and response.  The wildfires in the Cairngorms have been burning for over a week now Work is continuing to be done to help contain the fires His message could not have been clearer. Prevention and preparedness, he told us, were ‘absolutely key’. Michael Bruce, Vice-chair of the Scottish Wildfire Forum, issued an equally stark warning. The organisations working to improve Scotland’s wildfire resilience desperately needed greater support and resources. His conclusion was damning. ‘At the moment,’ he told Parliament, ‘the national budget is not being spent on prevention.’ Those are not the words of opposition politicians. They are the considered judgment of the experts whose job it is to understand this growing threat. That is why the Scottish Government’s handling of the Cairngorms wildfire has been so disappointing. Nobody expects ministers to control the weather. Nobody expects them to prevent every wildfire. But they are expected to lead when a crisis unfolds. Instead, what we have witnessed has too often looked like a government searching for excuses rather than accepting responsibility. Neil Gray’s extraordinary appearance on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show encapsulated that perfectly. Faced with legitimate questions about the Government’s response, the Cabinet Secretary appeared more interested in shifting blame than explaining decisions.  He sought to point the finger at the Met Office, despite forecasts having already highlighted the significant change in wind speed and direction that emergency planners were preparing for. Firefighters were still on the scene on Sunday in Nethy Bridge Then came perhaps the most astonishing admission of all. Mr Gray confirmed he requested military assistance from the UK Government despite believing all along that it did not possess the specialist helicopters needed to tackle the blaze. That simply doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. If ministers genuinely believed the capability wasn’t available, why make the request at all? Communities facing evacuation deserved serious crisis management, not political theatre. At a time when firefighters were risking their lives and families were leaving their homes, ministers should have been focused on coordinating every available resource, not manufacturing another constitutional grievance. The biggest threat to public confidence wasn’t the changing wind direction. It was the changing SNP narrative. First, we were told military assistance was essential. Then we were told ministers already knew it wouldn’t make any difference. First blame appeared to rest with operational circumstances. Then the finger was pointed at the Met Office. Scotland deserved better than that. This should concern all of us because the Cairngorms fire is not an isolated event. Climate change means longer dry spells and more extreme fire conditions are becoming increasingly common.  Wildfires that once happened perhaps once in a generation are becoming a far more regular threat to our communities, our environment and our rural economy. That was precisely the point made to our committee. Jon Henderson warned that it was ‘absolutely foreseeable’ that wildfires would increasingly interact with communities. Foreseeable. That single word should haunt ministers. Because once Parliament has been told a threat is foreseeable, government loses the luxury of pretending events were unprecedented or impossible to anticipate. The real test of government is not how well it explains itself once disaster strikes. It is whether it acted before disaster struck in the first place. Did ministers invest sufficiently in prevention? Did they provide the Scottish Wildfire Forum and partner organisations with the support they said they desperately needed? Did they treat wildfire as a national resilience challenge, or simply another environmental issue to be discussed until the next emergency arrived? Those are questions the SNP must now answer. Finlay Carson chaired Holyrood’s inquiry into Scotland’s preparedness for wildfires None of this should detract from the extraordinary courage shown by Scotland’s firefighters, estate workers, gamekeepers, farmers, volunteers and local communities. Their professionalism has been nothing short of remarkable. Scotland owes every one of them an enormous debt of gratitude. But we cannot continue relying on exceptional people on the ground to compensate for complacency at the top. This week’s wildfire did not just test Scotland’s emergency services. It tested the SNP Government. The firefighters passed. The local communities passed. The volunteers passed. The ministers who were warned months ago, yet still appeared unprepared when those warnings became reality, have some very serious questions to answer. Parliament was warned. The experts were warned. The Scottish Government was warned. Scotland did not need ministers scrambling for excuses once the hills were already burning. It needed leadership before the first spark ever took hold.