Fires On Crompton Moor
One of the fires on Crompton Moor on Saturday. (picture: Friends of Crompton Moor)
Two separate fires broke out on Crompton Moor over the weekend. Firefighters had to be called out to deal with the blazes, which both happened on Saturday.
Mic Norbury from the Friends of Crompton Moor group took this picture of one of the fires.
He wrote on the group’s blog: “I assume that these were started deliberately, and we wondered what would have happened if there had been a serious house fire while the two crews were up on the moor, hundreds of yards from their vehicles, putting out these fires.”
Last year saw a worrying rise in the number of fires on our moorland. There were 42 blazes on moors in the borough of Oldham during 2010, compared with 16 the year before.
Figures obtained by Saddleworth News also revealed that there were a total of 154 moorland fires across Greater Manchester last year, sharply up on the 2009 tally of 68.
The very dry start to last year was blamed for the rise in the statistics. Kev Talbot, Oldham Borough Commander for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, last month issued a warning to users of moorland to take extra care in 2011.
He commented: “Incidents of this type can be a drain on resources, tying up firefighters and engines for long periods, and as the weather changes to spring we would appeal to people out and about enjoying to countryside around Greater Manchester to be mindful of the risk and take extra care, particularly when discarding matches and cigarettes.”
You can read the Saddleworth News article about the moorland fires figures here.
The blogpost from the Friends of Crompton Moor site about Saturday’s fires is here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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