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East wind brings wild fires                       12/3/13

A wild fire at Keose on Lewis damaged about an acre  of heather last night. At one point the fire front was about 100 metres wide as it spread.

Other moorland fires caused damage in the Western Isles yesterday including a 24-hour blaze on North Uist which was finally extinguished in the afternoon.

Some 30 acres of trees were destroyed at Carinish. Fire crews were first called out on Sunday afternoon and later got it under control . However, whipped up by the stiff easterly wind, the blaze flared up again overnight.

At dawn, fire crews deployed hoses on the flames as it advanced towards the main road. Thick smoke engulfed the carriageway causing police to close it to traffic for about two hours.

On Sunday night, another moorland blaze spread over 100 acres of heather and was left to burn on the westside of North Uist.

Other heath fires broke out in the Uists on Monday.