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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
World
Barney Davis

Edinburgh wildfire: Huge flames rip across UNESCO heritage site Calton Hill

The UNESCO World Heritage Site Calton Hill was covered in flames as a wild shrub fire broke out in the Scottish capital.

A towering inferno ripped through the dry bracken causing smoke and flames to be blown in high winds across the skies of central Edinburgh.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that were battling a large gorse fire and have been at the scene since 3:15pm on Sunday.

Calton Hill on flames (Twitter/ ( @CATRl0NA))

Catriona McDonald was in a building nearby and captured the blaze on camera.

She said: “It’s so windy here.

“At first it looked like the building I was in was on fire. I saw what seemed to be flames bursting up suddenly from the roof.

“Then I realised it was actually the dry gorse or bracken on the hill immediately behind as it spread with the wind.”

The UNESCO World Heritage Site is home to the National Monument and the monument to poet Robert Burns. The Old Royal High School and the City Observatory are also in the vicinity of the inferno.

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