45 firefighters work overnight to tackle blaze near historic castle

Stornoway fire: Crews have battled the incident overnight.MRCC Stornoway/CHC Helicopter

Firefighters have worked overnight to tackle a major blaze close to the historic Lews Castle in Stornoway.

The main road out of Stornoway was closed for more than seven hours after the blaze broke out at about 2.10pm on Thursday.

A spokesman for Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service said officers were still at the scene on Friday and that parts of the blaze were still going.

Four pumps with jets were in attendance and were being used to dampen the area.

Philip Green, group manager for Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue, said: "We are in the process of dampening the area. Around 20-25 firefighters are still at the scene.

"It's very dry and windy which has caused flare ups."

He added that the crews were working in two main areas.

Heavy smoke from the fire affected the A859 Stornoway to Harris road (Lochs Road), on the Isle of Lewis, and caused police to close it to traffic on Thursday afternoon. It was reopened shortly before 10pm

Emergency services were called to the castle grounds to find gorse and heather on fire at Arnish, close to the castle grounds.

Five fire crews attended the incident, which is in a different location from another blaze in the area which damaged around 2000 trees last Friday.

At one point the blaze spread to a front of more than 200 yards.

Local diversions routed traffic via the west side of the island, a detour of approximately 30 miles.

The fire comes as the Western Isles has recorded one of its driest periods of weather in recent years with just 4% of normal June rainfall. It was understood that due to the good weather the heat from the previous fire had remained in the ground and the fire had restarted.

No one was injured in either of the blazes.


View Locator map for fire in the grounds of Lews Castle, Stornoway in a larger map

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