Highlands residents 'angry, upset and frustrated' at evacuation order as wildfire rages over 10 days

Highlands residents have criticised authorities' handling of a wildfire in Cainrgorms National Park that has been raging for 10 days.Households in Nethy Bridge were moved on Friday night amid fears the fire was approaching the village after a shift in the weather.Locals say the initiative was too late, and accused the Scottish government of failing to ct decisively in its response to the blaze, the BBC reports.Cabinet Secretary for Justice, Neil Gray, said: "Throughout this significant incident, the government and the emergency services have given everything to ensuring that the fire is being addressed."Nethy Bridge community council leader Sandy McCook said the community had been calling for a major incident to be declared "for over a week" until authorities did so on Friday.He said: "It was only at 10pm last night that that was decided. The hotel dining room was taken over at 4am this morning by the fire service."He added that the village was the centre of a complex operation with around 20 fire appliances, two helicopters and "bulldozers tearing the heart out of Abernethie Forest". Mr McCook described the bulldozers as a "very necessary evil" but one that "could have been stopped".Speaking to the Press Association on Saturday, Mr McCook said: “Apocalyptic is the word for the pall of smoke that was on the go yesterday.”The smoke has changed direction, and on Saturday at midday he said it was blowing towards Aberdeenshire and the North Sea, but the flames were still “very plain to see” from the outskirts of Nethy Bridge.Evacuations and smoke advisories are still in place after Police Scotland declared a major incident as emergency services battled the wildfire in the Cairngorms National Park.Read MoreEmergency services previously said significantly changed weather conditions, including stronger winds, have contributed to the unpredictable behaviour of the blaze.In an update on Saturday morning, Police Scotland said residents in a small area of properties north-west of Dorback Lodge (Lain Thatchan) had been evacuated as a precaution.The Scottish Government said a fire break around the village was established overnight, and new breaks are being constructed as Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) deploys additional resources.A smoke advisory is also in place for Tomintoul, where residents have been advised to keep windows and doors closed due to smoke from the wildfire.“If you are affected by smoke, stay indoors where possible, keep windows and doors closed, and avoid strenuous outdoor activity,” SFRS said.The service also requested more heavy machinery, such as bulldozers, to help with the response.“Operators who can provide suitable plant machinery to support the ongoing multi-agency response are asked to report to the Village Hall in Nethy Bridge,” SFRS said.On the ground, Mr McCook said there was a major increase in firefighting units from the SFRS in and around the village, plus multiple wildfire response units.“I think a lot of people are running on adrenaline,” he said.“A lot of people are upset, angry and frustrated at the ongoing situation because the Scottish Government said a week ago [on Wednesday] that they had enough resources to deal with it, and they said on Thursday that the fire was contained.“My argument with that is, if you said the fire was contained and you had enough resources last Wednesday and Thursday, why are we still fighting it 10 days later and it’s still running out of control? It is still not controlled in any way shape or form.”On Saturday, emergency services said there were nine fire appliances at the scene, supported by specialist wildfire resources.SFRS said it has maintained a “significant operational response” since the wildfire was first reported on July 15.More than 500 firefighters have tackled the blaze over the last 10 days, alongside specialist wildfire appliances, all-terrain vehicles, helicopter water-bombing operations and partner agencies.The update came after First Minister John Swinney chaired a meeting of the Scottish Government’s Resilience Room (SGoRR) on Friday night.The meeting was attended by several ministers and representatives from emergency services, including SFRS and Police Scotland.On Friday, the First Minister told the Press Association: “I would obviously ask people in the region to follow all of the advice that is available and to respect the exclusion zone that’s been put in place.“This is an incident that we felt was moving in a positive direction earlier this week, but with the change of weather circumstances – which is an illustration of just the scale and difficulty of the situation that we are managing – it has moved in the other direction.”His comments came as smoke from the wildfire near Glenmore drifted as far as Aberdeen due to changing wind conditions.The fire, which broke out near the village of Glenmore on Wednesday last week, led to residents and campsites being evacuated.It covered about six square kilometres of heather and small trees at its height.Evacuated residents are being directed to a dedicated respite centre at the Macdonald Aviemore Resort.Members of the public are asked to avoid affected areas in the Cairngorms National Park. SFRS said the area remains unsafe due to firefighting operations, rapidly changing fire conditions and helicopter activity.