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Edinburgh Live
Edinburgh Live
National
Kris Gourlay

East Lothian firefighters tackle blaze from cigarette tearing through woods

Firefighters in East Lothian rushed to a huge woodland fire at a popular country park, with around 50 metres of land affected by the blaze.

Crews attended the gorse fire at John Muir Country Park, near Dunbar, on Monday, August 1, as the East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers hailed a speedy response from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service.

Taking to Facebook and sharing pictures of the aftermath, they reminded people about the dangers of wildfires starting and spreading with ease during the warmer months, with the cause of the blaze thought to be from a single cigarette.

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Pictures from the scene show a huge area of woodland, thought to be around 50 x 20 metres, burnt out, with fire crews preventing it from damaging any more of the historic wildlife park.

Taking to Facebook, the countryside rangers said: "Many thanks to Scottish Fire and Rescue Service who dealt with a fire at John Muir Country Park on Monday. The fire affected an area roughly 50m x 20m in the woodland.

"There is HIGH RISK OF FIRE across East Lothian, meaning people should not be lighting fires, BBQs or dropping cigarettes. We suspect it was the latter that started this fire."

At the end of last year, part of the John Muir Country Park was left devastated from the aftermath of Storm Arwen. Hundreds of trees were blown over and lay like match sticks, with aerial drone footage capturing heartbreaking footage.

The fire is said to have covered 50 x 20 metres of woodland. (East Lothian Council Countryside Rangers)

The park, which is home to hundreds of different types of wildlife and plant species, is also an incredibly popular coastal walking path in East Lothian. Multiple paths through the trees were also blocked due to damage caused by the storm.

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