A BANGING BONFIRE NIGHT IN WALES

THOUSANDS of firework lo vers turned out at events across Wales last night to watch the skies ligh t up for Bonfire Night. On a largely dr y evening, families wrapped up war m to head out in to the crisp evening to go to firework displa ys, bonfires and family even ts on November 5. Displays in C ardiff and Swansea wer e some of the biggest even ts put on in Wales, with up to 15,000 people expected to turn out for the sold-out S parks in the Park in C ardiff’s B ute Park, wher e mor e than 20,000 fireworks were due to light up the city skyline. Organised events were put on by councils, clubs and leisur e gr oups all acr osss the coun try to ensur e specta tors could d get to see colourful and exciting displays, while plen ty of families chose to sta yat t home and h ave their o wn firework dis- plays. But Bonfire Night has also become syn- onymous with an incr edibly busy per iodd for emergency services, with fire services s across Wales responding to calls on whatt was a busy Saturday night. Fire crews across Wales were called to o dozens of inciden ts, r anging fr om gr assss fires and bin fires to bonfires. Jennie Griffiths,from South Wales Fire e and Rescue Service, live tweeted the incii- dents being r eported throughout Bonfiree Night, and r eported var ious blazes, inciidents and call-outs throughout the day. Those incidents sa w cr ews a ttending g reports of fires in M anmoel, Ystrad Myynach, Newport, Tredegar, Blackwood, Arrgoed, Mountain Ash, Pill, Merthyr Tydfil,l, Abercwmboi, A bercynon, Clydach V ale,e, Ystrad Pentre, Barry, Pontypridd and Abberdare. The incidentsr anged fr om gr ass fires,s s, skip fires and bonfires to car fires and ree efuse fires, with incidents reported as earlyyy as 3.30pm. It included a crew responding to invesstigate a r eport of “bangs ”; youths thr owwing fireworks in Rumney, Cardiff;trees onn fire in Risca and a bonfireclose to forestry y in Whitchurch. Ms Gr iffithswrote: “As long as we ar re e happy your bonfire is r esponsibly superrvised, consider ate to others and safe e, , then we won’t stop you. “Remember, a fire engine cannot be in n two places a t the same time , so help us make sure it ’s available to be a t the r ightht place.”