HillSafe
A Scottish hillwalking companion that overlays live wildfire incidents, high-risk warnings, and closures onto your planned route.
Hikers, campers, and outdoor enthusiasts planning trips into the Cairngorms and Highlands
- Live wildfire incident layer from SFRS feeds pinned onto OS-style topo maps
- Push alert when forecast wildfire risk tips from moderate to very high in your area
- Offline-friendly evacuation routes with bothies, shelters, and safe muster points
- Trip check-in that texts your emergency contact automatically once you return safely
The Cairngorms fire is still being contained, campers were evacuated without notice, and a very-high wildfire warning remains in place — outdoor visitors are actively searching for risk guidance right now.
Real but episodic — multiple major outlets (BBC, STV, Press & Journal) covered Cairngorms 2025 wildfire and evacuations, confirming active user concern, but Scotland wildfire spikes are news-driven rather than sustained.Villagers and campsites evacuated as wildfire burns across 2km in the Cairngorms ↗Cairngorms wildfire 'largely surrounded' after five days ↗
No Scotland-specific wildfire alert app found; WildFire-Ready explicitly excludes Scotland (Western North America only), and Walkhighlands covers walks but not wildfire overlays — leaving a niche gap, though OS Maps/Walkhighlands dominate the broader routing space.WildFire-Ready — Live Wildfire Map & Alerts | Western North America ↗Walkhighlands: the website for walking in Scotland ↗
Limited — addressable market is Scotland hillwalkers (niche), wildfire need is bursty/news-driven making sustained subscriptions hard, and Walkhighlands already monetises the core use case (routes); would need premium features beyond alerts.Walkhighlands App ↗6 of the Best Wildfire Apps in 2024 - Frontline ↗
Climate change is increasing wildfire risk in Scotland (CNPA approved new fire byelaws Feb 2025), supporting a long-term trend, but demand remains reactive rather than habitual.Fire in the Cairngorms National Park - one rule for landowners, another for people and nature ↗
SFRS publishes wildfire statistics but no clear public API for live incidents; would require aggregating from SFRS, Met Office fire danger ratings, and possibly satellite data, plus overlaying onto OS routing data — multi-source build, not trivial.Scottish Fire and Rescue Service ↗Scottish Wildfire Forum - resources ↗