Grass fire from barbecue was started deliberately

A LARGE grassland fire at a Moorlands country park last week is believed to have been started deliberately following a barbecue.

Firefighters were called to a report of a fire in grassland at Deep Hayes Country Park on Sutherland Road in Longsdon at 3.55pm last Tuesday, May 26.

Crews from Leek, Cheadle, Burslem and Ipstones along with a specialist vehicle – the Leek ranger – all attended the blaze and used beaters and backpacks to extinguish the fire.

Firefighters left the scene at around 6.30pm.

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service received more than 50 call outs to secondary fires over the most recent Bank Holiday weekend.

Between 5pm on Friday, May 22 and midnight on Tuesday, May 26 the service logged 58 calls to a variety of blazes across the county.

Secondary fires are generally small fires which take place outside – typically in grass or heathland.

One example saw a total of more than 70 firefighters attend a fire covering approximately 15 hectares of Cannock Chase on Friday evening.

In total, more than 360 firefighters were called out to similar fires over the weekend at locations including back gardens, scrubland and woodland. Most of these started as a result of people not disposing of rubbish safely or having barbecues in unsafe areas.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber said: “Our crews work tirelessly to ensure that our communities are kept safe and that our rural areas are protected from the devastation caused by fire.

“This most recent Bank Holiday saw our firefighters tackle some challenging incidents – some of which were not helped by people failing to dispose of their waste responsibly.

“Fire can spread very quickly and we have seen recent examples where fires have been started and spread – causing harm to local wildlife, habitats and also damaging homes and buildings – injuring people as a direct result of burning waste and rubbish.”