Residents help firefighters to tackle moorland blaze

Firefighters have praised the public for their help putting out a suspected deliberate moorland blaze. Residents ran hoses up to the area above Carrbrook, allowing firefighters to beat back the flames which destroyed three acres of heather.

Six appliances from Mossley, Ashton and Stalybridge were called to Castle Lane near Micklehurst Cricket Club at 7.30pm last night. Officials from Pennine Helicopters were also drafted in and 100 litre water bombs were dropped on the area.

The area was declared safe at 10.30pm.

Watch commander Alan Hall said local residents played a crucial part in putting out the blaze. He said: "Without the members of the public who helped we would not have coped as well as we did. These are their hills and they want to protect them. Not only did they swiftly alert us to the fire, but helped drag fire hoses up the hill while we started work containing the fire. "Without their help there would have been much more damage."

Three youths were seen in the area moments before the fire started.

Mike Jones, who captured the dramatic moment from his house in Mossley (see picture), branded those responsible as 'idiots'.

Mr Jones, 54, of Andrew Street, said: "Starting fire like this is stupid behaviour. It takes our fire service away from other life threatening emergencies."

Greater Manchester Police said there had been no arrests but that enquiries were ongoing.

Bravo to the residents who helped fight this fire along with the emergency services. Tameside Citizen