Hill fire sparked fears for homes

Jamie MacDonald • Published 3 Mar 2010 16:12 0 Comments

ALVA Glen was illuminated on Monday night by a raging gorse fire that lit up the night sky around the Ochil Hills.

No-one was hurt and the cause of the blaze is unknown, although, burning embers did set fire to the roof space of a nearby farm house.

The fire brigade received a call from a member of the public to attend at 6.50pm and they found the fire was well alight upon arrival after it had spread to trees and gorse throughout the Glen.

An area of approximately 50 square metres was in flames when five appliances and a water carrier from Alloa, Tillicoultry and Stirling were dispatched.

A total of 27 firefighters were initially involved in tackling the blaze but by 7.40pm the incident was downscaled and only two pumps remained.

After consulting with farmers it was decided that it would be unsafe for firefighters to remain on the hill to try to tackle the blaze and it was allowed to burn, although close inspection was kept on the fire. As the fire was confined to trees and bracken on the hill, which was around one kilometre from the road, it was judged to be safe to allow this to burn out without taking any further offensive action.

Bill McLauchlan, lives nearby and told the Advertiser he was in his back garden when he noticed a lot of smoke.

He said, "It looked to be a typical gorse fire. There was a danger it could have spread to the houses but the wind was blowing it away towards Tillicoultry. If it came the other way it could have been a real problem."

Bill added, "It looked quite spectacular and the flames were around five or six feet high. There was no real cause for concern though and it smouldered away after that."

Another eyewitness said, "It was a lot bigger than anything I have seen on the hill before. It was to the right of the Glen and there are sheep on the hill so I don't think the farmer will be very pleased."

One fire crew was called back out to Alva just after 9pm when police officers noticed smoke coming from the roof of a farm house near to the hill fire.

Embers from the hillside had blown through a skylight and ignited part of the roof space. The farm owners attempted to douse the fire with buckets of water before the fire brigade arrived and put it out.

Crews stayed at the hill fire until 12am and were due to inspect the seat of the fire again on Tuesday to ensure that it was fully extinguished.

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