Fire up Arthur's Seat sparks emergency response

Residents sounded the alarm after seeing smoke rising in the area.

Firefighters were called to tackle flames last night in one of the Capital’s beauty spots.

Smoke was seen rising from Arthur’s Seat at about 10pm by nearby residents who raised the alarm.

Two appliances and a crew were sent to battle the blaze which was in the Whinny Hill area of Holyrood Park.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokeswoman said about 50m x 50m of grassland and gorse bushes on the hill caught alight.

Fortunately no injuries were reported and the fire was put out at just after midnight.

The cause of the fire at this time is not known.

Last night saw a spate of fires in the Edinburgh and Lothian areas.

Fire spotted in Whinny Hill area of Holyrood Park at about 10.30pm on June 1 picture: Twitter

Two fire appliances – one each from Sighthill and Tollcross – were called to the running track at Saughton Sports Complex just before 7pm yesterday (June 1), where a number of rubber gym mats in a weather shelter were found alight. The fire was extinguished by 7:40pm.

In a separate incident yesterday afternoon, four fire engines and a water carrier were called to the Benhar area of forest by Falla Hill, Fauldhouse, to deal with gorse and bushes which are alight.

A fire service spokeswoman said the fire, which broke out at about 4pm, covered an area of about 150m x 50m in just over an hour.

The spokeswoman said crews have been fighting a number of wildfires in the area over the weekend after the spell of warm weather.