Evacuated wildfire residents allowed to return home

Residents who were evacuated from a village in the Cairngorms have been allowed to return home.

Nethy Bridge homes were evacuated on Friday night but Police Scotland said on Saturday evening that the fire was no longer considered a major incident.

The blaze has raged for the past 12 days and led to the evacuation of homes in the remote village.

On Saturday night, Supt Judy Hill, of Police Scotland, said there was "no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge."

This is thanks to the efforts of "fire crews, gamekeepers, contractors, partners and many others over the past 24 hours," she said.

The Scottish government said the wildfire was being treated seriously and that a request for support from the UK government was awaiting a response.

A UK government spokesperson confirmed they had received the request and were "urgently considering what support can be provided", including mutual aid from English Fire and Rescue Services and a National Resilience function.

The Scottish government's Neil Gray said authorities had been working hard to contain the fire.

"I am confident that every possible resource, every effort, has been deployed to this and will be and will continue to be unil this fire is extinguished," Gray said.

Sandy McCook, chairman of the Nethy Bridge and Vicinity Community Council, said residents of the Cairngorms village could see large plumes of smoke from the wildfire on Friday before they were evacuated.

"Apocalyptic is the word for the pall of smoke that was on the go [on Friday]," he said.

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.

Emergency services previously said significantly changed weather conditions, including stronger winds, had contributed to the unpredictable behaviour of the blaze.