CLIMATE change in Scotland is no longer a future threat but a present danger, campaigners have warned, as wildfires around Arthur’s Seat and the Cairngorms continue to stretch emergency services .
Members of the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service are still battling a wildfire in the Cairngorms, which started in heathland at Ryvoan Bothy near Nethy Bridge and has been burning since Wednesday, as well as one burning in the centre of Edinburgh which started on Sunday night.
In the Highlands, C7 Ski Road remains closed at Coylumbridge as well as access to Loch Morlich to keep the area clear for those responding as police, along with partners, are supporting people displaced by the fire to return and collect belongings.
Queens Drive in Edinburgh remains closed due to the Arthur's Seat fire with residents nearby told to keep windows and doors closed.
While the cause of both fires remains unknown, campaigners have said the recent blazes are a direct manifestation of the climate emergency in Scotland.
Tessa Khan, executive director at campaign group Uplift, told The National: “Climate change isn’t a distant threat – it’s here, now, damaging lives, livelihoods and nature, as anyone living near Arthur’s Seat or the Cairngorms can see.
"People are rightly alarmed by these fires, which firefighters are struggling to contain and which will only become more frequent and severe the more oil and gas drilling we allow.”
The fires come amid reports that Andy Burnham is considering granting new North Sea oil and gas licenses, including the planned Rosebank development.
Shouts of "No Rosebank" could be heard from protesters outside Downing Street during Burnham's first speech as Prime Minister.
In June 2025, while Manchester mayor, Burnham backed an anti-fossil fuel treaty which calls for an to end coal, oil and gas and to “hold polluters accountable.”
“With Manchester also blanketed in smoke, Burnham should recognise what most people already do: governments need to act now. That means rejecting a huge new oil field like Rosebank, which would generate more than six times Scotland’s annual emissions,” Khan said.
“The science is clear: the world already has far more oil and gas than can be burned safely if we are to maintain a liveable climate for ourselves and our children. Rosebank won’t cut energy bills, and it’s overwhelmingly oil for export,” she added, arguing it would not deliver the “reindustrialisation” the North East needs as North Sea jobs decline.
“It would be a huge mistake if one of the first things Burnham does is cave into the demands of oil profiteers – it is literally the opposite of the hope he is promising.”
Friends of the Earth Scotland also warned that extreme wildfires are already bringing “major danger to people and nature” across the country.
Oil and gas campaigns manager Rosie Hampton said: “The rise in extreme wildfires across the country shows that the climate emergency is already bringing major danger to people and nature, whether you live in the centre of Edinburgh or up in more remote parts of the Cairngorms.
“Wildfires can cause severe air pollution, destroy homes and kill wildlife,” she said, adding that “without far more action to stop the burning of fossil fuels that drives climate change, these fires, and the damage they do, will continue to intensify.”
Hampton pointed to changing weather patterns, with “lower rainfall in some places lining up with sustained higher temperatures creating worse-case scenarios for fires".
She said communities facing wildfires “require greater support from local government to prevent and prepare for these events which will become more frequent and more ferocious”.
“When you realise it is the same culprits who are causing record-breaking heatwaves and soaring energy bills, it is infuriating that we are not moving faster to transition to renewable energy. We need to build an energy system that is powered by renewables, run in the public interest and can bring down our bills for good," Hampton added.
Scottish Greens MSP Ariane Burgess described the scale and regularity of recent wildfires as “a terrifying warning about the future we are sleepwalking into”.
“Our brave firefighters are working round the clock to keep people safe and preserve our landscapes. They deserve more than our thanks, they deserve governments that protect our planet and back them up with the resources they need,” she said.
Burgess said the fires would be “the first major test of Andy Burnham's premiership” and criticised reports suggesting he could back expanded drilling in the North Sea.
“As temperatures soar and extreme weather becomes the new normal, it is staggering that the new Prime Minister could even be considering expanding oil and gas drilling,” she said.
“The answer is not more fossil fuels. It is investment in adaptation, prevention and the clean, green renewable energy that can power our future,” Burgess added.
“This must be a turning point. We can choose to stand up for people and planet or we can drill for new oil and gas. We can't do both. It's time for Andy Burnham to reject Rosebank and every new project that locks us into climate breakdown.”
