Campers rescued from wildfire by helicopter

Campers were rescued from wildfires in Galloway Forest Park in a four-hour search and rescue drama.

Bruce Marbrow and his son Jack, 13, travelled from Yorkshire for a trip with friend Scott Rayner and his son Frankie, 13, to camp in Galloway Forest Park in Dumfries and Galloway on Friday.

When they saw smoke in the distance, the campers attributed it to the controlled burning of heather, not realising the flames were from a wildfire, the Scotsman newspaper reported.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said it was alerted to a fire spreading across a large area of grass north of Loch Dee, at about 4pm on Thursday.

However, at midnight on Friday the campers saw flames getting closer.

Mr Marbrow told the Scotsman: “By midnight, the fire was really raging down the side of the hill where we were. At about 1am, we thought ‘what do we do? Do we try and walk off the hill?’. We decided to stay up until daybreak.

“The fire was about 20 metres away from where we were camped. It was a proper inferno on the side of the hill.

“Never in a million years did we think the smoke we had seen in the distance would be a wildfire like this.”

At about 3am, the four campers heard a helicopter overhead, however it departed without spotting them, the Scotsman reported.

It returned around 4am and rescued the stricken campers.

Emergency services began the search after spotting Mr Marbrow’s car parked on Friday evening.

Police made contact with Mr Marbrow’s wife, Fernanda, in East Yorkshire, and she advised them of an area “pin” which her husband had sent before they left.

A Coastguard spokesperson said: “At around 2.30am on Saturday, the HM Coastguard search and rescue helicopter and fixed wing aircraft were sent to search the area for potential campers.

“Six people were located by the helicopter and rescued from the area of the fire. They were transferred into the care of Police Scotland.”

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service previously warned there was a “very high” to “extreme” risk of wildfire across Scotland from Wednesday April 2 until Monday April 7 amid a spell of dry and sunny weather.

Police Scotland said on Monday afternoon: “Emergency services are continuing to tackle wildfires in the Galloway Forest Park area.

“A number of areas are affected, including Merrick, Millmore and Macaterick.

“Members of the public are reminded to avoid the area while this is ongoing.”