Arthur’s Seat fire live: Firefighters tackle blaze throughout the night

Firefighters have worked through the night tackling a gorse blaze on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

Emergency services were called to the scene at around 4.05pm on Sunday.

Smoke could be seen billowing into the sky from the hill, an extinct volcano in Holyrood Park to the south-east of the city centre.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service sent four fire engines and specialist resources to the incident on Sunday afternoon.

Two appliances were at the scene at 6.30am on Monday.

There were no reports of any casualties.

The blaze comes after Scotland has suffered days of wildfires this summer.

Earlier in July, parts of the north of the country were hit by wildfires on a “vast scale” which burned for several days, prompting a police investigation.

Dramatic pictures have shown smoke could be seen across Edinburgh after the huge wildfire broke out on Arthur’s Seat.

Reports have suggested people were seen fleeing the area as fire spread on Arthur’s Seat.

An eyewitness told Edinburgh Live: “There is a major wildfire on Arthur’s Seat which spreading rapidly.

“People are running down the face of the hill to get away from it and smoke is spreading really fast.”

Arthur’s Seat, named after King Arthur, is situated at Holyrood Park, which overlooks the Scottish Parliament.

It is an extinct volcano and beauty spot to the south east of the city centre of Edinburgh in Scotland.

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) spokesperson said: “We were alerted at 4.05pm on Sunday, August 10 to reports of a fire in the open at Arthur’s Seat, Edinburgh.

“Operations control mobilised four fire appliances and specialist resources to the area where firefighters are working to extinguish a fire affecting a large area of gorse.

“There are no reported casualties at this time and crews remain at the scene.”

A frightened eyewitness has said he watched as the flames spread while he made his way down Arthur’s Seat.

Nick Brice, from Brighton, told BBC Scotland News: “We could see this little plume of smoke on the ridge at the far side and it just got bigger and bigger.

“All of a sudden we could see these flames starting to come up and people noticed it spreading fast.

“The smoke started to really build and then these flames started to cover the ridge and we realised the wind was blowing it right towards us.

“We had to get down to the road fast because it was going to come across the whole area.”

Mr Brice said urged people he passed who were still going up the hill to turn around.

He added: “Now the whole hillside is covered in flames and smoke coming down over the path we walked.”