Sandy McCook, chairman of Nethy Community Council, said he had witnessed a “major flare-up” on Mam Suim, Craig nan Gall and into Strath Nethy on Thursday evening.

He said: “The wind has picked up considerably and turned to a more westerly direction driving the fire eastwards.”

He told BBC Scotland News: “It has had a huge impact in the village. People are on edge. They’re on tenterhooks.

“They don’t know quite what’s happening especially when they’re seeing one thing on the ground and the agencies are putting out a different message.”

He added: “We haven’t had the air support that that we need. The other thing that would have made a huge difference would be if the government had declared a state of emergency or a critical incident.

“We could then have had the use of military assets.”

He said he felt “sick to the pit of his stomach” at the situation.

First Minister John Swinney told the BBC he was keeping the fire “under very close review” and was speaking to the fire service as things develop.

He said some of the measures put in place such as firebreaks were under “significant pressure” as a result of changing weather conditions.

“We will be undertaking a review of this incident because it’s an illustration… that the climate is creating different circumstances for us to manage and we’ve got to be confident we’ve got the resources in place,” he added.

The Cairngorms National Park covers 1,748 sq miles (4,527 sq km) and includes parts of five local authorities – Aberdeenshire, Angus, Highland, Moray and Perth & Kinross.

Closed and restricted areas include paths around Glenmore, Loch Morlich and Badaguish, as well as low-level routes including the Old Logging Way and routes providing access to Cairngorm Mountain, the Northern Corries, Meall A’ Bhuachaille, the Green Loch (Lochan Uaine), Strath Nethy or Bynack More.

Paths within Abernethy Forest to the south of Forest Lodge towards Ryvoan Bothy also remain closed.