The Highlands and islands fire service has urged landowners to draw up a battle plan for fighting wildfires, after several major blazes in the region.
More than 20 appliances and 130 personnel were involved in dealing with simultaneous incidents at Contin and near Drumnadrochit on Wednesday and overnight into Thursday.
Crews from as far away as Fort William, Kyle, Grantown and Nairn were drafted in to help the firefighting efforts.
Highlands and Islands Fire and Rescue Service area manager David Gill said that he was proud of the way that crews dealt with the incidents. He said: “These were two simultaneous, large-scale incidents and we tackled them effectively and safely and with no injuries.”
He added that fire cover was also maintained throughout the region, despite units being diverted to the wildfires.
Mr Gill urged landowners to establish wildfire strategy groups to ensure that proper arrangements could be quickly put into place if a fire occured on their land.
The groups, which already exist in some areas, would ensure that the fire service had necessary contacts, information and permissions to enable them to tackle wildfires.
In particular, authorisation is needed from landowners for helicopters to waterbomb the flames.
Mr Gill said: “Good contacts makes the job of protecting property easier.
“I have been to fires where there has been devastation worth millions of pounds. There has been a heavy bill and it has cost livelihoods.”
He added: “During this period of very dry and sunny conditions I would encourage the public to be extremely diligent in preventing any fires and the disposal of lit cigarettes.
The first fire was reported around at 2pm at Craigdarroch, at Contin, on Wednesday. The blaze also set fire to a building containing cylinders thought to contain the explosive gas, acetylene. It later transpired the cylinders were empty.
This led to firefighters and police throwing a 650ft cordon round the area, which forced the closure of the A835 Inverness to Ullapool road. The route was eventually reopened a few hours later. Six fire appliances attended the scene, including 30 firefighters. At the same time, many more crews were battling a large hill fire in the Loch Gorm area of Drumnadrochit, near Inverness.
Eight crews were sent to the scene at about 3pm and remained there overnight to prevent the flames spreading to neighbouring woodlands. It was estimated about six square miles of mixed trees and moorland were burned. The blaze was extinguished by 7.30am yesterday but crews remained on site for several hours to tackle any flare-ups.
