Huge blazes break out on moorland
THE TWO FIRES ON MARSDEN MOOR WERE EACH A MILE LONG
TWO huge moorland fires broke out yesterday with crews tackling flames over a mile long.
The fires on Marsden Moor near Cupworth Reservoir broke out at about 3pm with six crews equipped with blowers, beaters and pumps tackling the furious flames which were spreading rapidly.
A West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said: “We have six fire appliances in attendance at a moorland fire near to Cupwith Reservoir in Huddersfield.
“Crews are tackling two lines of fire - each are one mile in length.
“We have 4 blowers, 10 beaters, 1 major pump into open water and two wildfire vehicles in use.
“We are also being supported by 6 pumps and 2 wildfire units from Greater Manchester FRS.”
One resident local to the blaze captured the fire’s shocking spread in a piece of dramatic drone footage.
Captured by Alex Wilson, the footage showed the clear spreading of the flames as the borders of the fire extended to well over one mile in either direction.
“It was quite shocking” said Alex. “I mean, I live quite close to where the fire was, so obviously it was shocking in that respect that we’re so close to it, but generally the scale is just - it was large when I went up there.”
While capturing the footage, Alex also explained how he was able to see the fire spreading in real time something he himself described as dramatic.
“We were kind of like, on a flat piece of land and there was a hill and as we were taking the drone footage when we started, the flames were below the hill and the smoke was clear, but as we got towards the end of filming you could really see the flames coming towards us and the fire got more dramatic.”
The process of documenting the fire’s spread also wasn’t without its challenges - with the key one being to make sure the drone was in the right location to avoid falling victim to any smoke damage. “You can’t really go into the smoke to really pilot a drone, so making sure the aircraft is in the right position was the biggest challenge,” explained Alex.
“And then not going into the smoke, as obviously it will do quite bad damage to the aircraft if you get smoke into it.”
You could really see the flames coming towards us and the fire got more dramatic
Alex Wilson