Huge wet land barrier created to stop blaze
FIREFIGHTERS have surrounded the Winter Hill moorland wildfire with a 25m-wide zone of wet land.
The blaze continues to burn nine days after it first started above Horwich in Bolton, and covers an area of roughly three square miles.
But after a week of back-breaking work, fire chiefs say they’ve now made real progress and they have been able to scale back from 25 to 20 crews.
With the help of locals, firefighters have dug trenches and surrounded the burning moorland with cold, wet land to prevent it spreading any further. Crews can now concentrate on pouring as much water as possible on the remaining pockets of fire.
The blaze has been divided into five sectors and crews are now being sent out to gradually close in towards the centre.
Greater Manchester Fire Service has been stood down from attending Winter Hill during the day, although it is understood crews will still support a watching brief overnight.
Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service continues to lead the response and bosses have resisted calls for support from the Army – as has happened in Saddleworth.
Instead, fire chief Chris Kenny said he preferred to utilise the expertise of other fire crews from around the country – many of whom have first-hand experience of moorland fires such as South Wales and Northumberland.
Nevertheless, many firefighters have been working shifts of up to 12 hours on the hill in sweltering conditions for more than a week.
And the forecast is for Greater Manchester’s heatwave to continue