Documents seen by Hillhead Review reveal that First Minister John Swinney requested rapid briefings on the risk posed to Scotland by wildfires following nationwide Emergency Alerts in being sent to all mobile phones in England and Wales.
Days after the deployment of the alerts, the Scottish Government also received training from the UK Government’s Emergency COBRA committee on the use of the alerts system in future scenarios.
The documents show that there was a high-level of concern at the very top of the Scottish Government as wildfires destroyed 90 square miles of land in England and Wales.
In August 2026 Wildfires in England and Wales were the largest the UK has ever seen as temperatures reached a record high of 38.2 degrees celsius.
Documents and correspondence relating to the Scottish Government’s response to the England and Wales emergency alerts were requested by Hillhead Review under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
The documents show that the Scottish Government received briefings from the UK government on the wildfires, with officials recommending alerts for areas “at very high or extreme wildfire risk”. The Scottish Government concluded that no areas of Scotland were “assessed to be at high or extreme wildfire risk” unlike regions of England and Wales.
The assessment of the Scottish Government’s Community Safety lead the day after the emergency alert was that “The current UK wide outlook is for wildfire risk to reduce slightly over the coming days”.
First Minister John Swinney requested a briefing from the Community Safety lead to be given ‘as soon as possible’ that day.
The Scottish Government did not however receive a request from the UK Government to put out a Wildfire Alert for Scotland.
The Scottish Government’s position is that broadly the risk of wildfires in Scotland has significantly increased, and that Scotland must be prepared for the changing climate. First Minister told Sky News in July as Scotland was in the midst of the Cairngorms wildfire that “We’re clearly facing significant changes in our climate and the prevalence of wildfires in Scotland on a now, unfortunately, frequent basis is an indication that climate change is happening”. At least 700 people were evacuated in that wildfire.
Hillhead Review spoke to the First Minister’s office for clarification on whether the SNP-led Scottish Government’s position on oil and gas extraction had changed as a result of the wildfires. His office did not give a clear answer but pointed us to a previous statement which said that “Ministers continue to call on the UK Government to replace the Energy Profits Levy with a fair system that protects jobs, and for decisions on North Sea oil and gas projects to be approached on a rigorously evidence-led, case by case, basis with climate compatibility and energy security as key considerations.”
Image Credit: “Visit to Cairngorms wildfire” by Scottish Government, CC BY 4.0