A group of youths were spotted running away from a new woodland blaze in Lancashire amid fears of arson as hundreds of firefighters struggled to contain existing moorland fires across Greater Manchester.

The youths were seen running from a fire at Healey Nab, by Anglezarke reservoir near Chorley, according to Dave Russel, assistant chief fire officer at Lancashire fire and rescue.

The fire was quickly contained, he said, after a helicopter carrying water was diverted from Winter Hill, four miles away, where a major incident was declared on Saturday night.



On Friday a 22-year-old man from Bolton was arrested in connection with the Winter Hill fire. He was held on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life but was released pending further inquiries.

On Sunday roads were closed all around Winter Hill, on the border between Bolton, Greater Manchester, and Lancashire, after two moorland fires merged, threatening a key telecommunications mast which provides TV and radio signals for 7m homes.

Much of the firefighting was concentrated on protecting woodland and wildlife on the Lancashire side of the hill, just outside the village of Belmont.

Vinny Merritt had stayed up all night, nervously watching the flames race over the hillside from Bolton and towards the house he shares with his wife, Carolyn Hutton.

“From about 12.30am I just kept watch as the fire blazed towards us,” he said. At 6.30am, when the fire had got within 100 metres of their home on Belmont Road, there was a knock on the door. It was a fireman.

“I said: ‘do you need us to leave?’” recalled Hutton. She’d already packed a bag just in case.

But the couple were told the fire service had a plan. They were going to set a deliberate fire ahead of the blaze and then douse the firebreak with water so that when the fire arrived it would have no fuel to burn. “Then they said ‘if push comes to shove we’ll just douse your house too’,” chuckled Merritt.

Showing the no-nonsense spirit that has reigned in the north-west of England since the cotton famines, the couple took the fireman at his word and put the grill on. “We took them out some bacon barms,” said Hutton. “They’ve worked so hard. They’ve got blisters all over their feet. Then we went down to the shop to buy them some Lucozade – fizzy, they said, because normal water just goes straight through them – and the shop wouldn’t let us pay.”

Merritt had nothing but praise for the fire service. “These guys are dead on their feet, they’ve been working 20 hours straight, some of them, and yet the government thanks them by cutting their budgets.”

Every now and again, helicopters carrying water drawn from the region’s many reservoirs flew overhead. On Sunday Lancashire fire pleaded with members of the public to stop flying drones over the fire, saying they were putting pilots’ lives at risk.

Outside Hutton and Merritt’s house, volunteers from Lancaster area search and rescue (Lasar) were helping the fire service carry water and a pump up the hillside. On Saturday Lancashire fire service had put out a plea for anyone with a “soft track” vehicle to get in touch.

Buckhurst Plant Hire in nearby Rossendale offered them two Hagglunds, former military tracked vehicles able to charge over any terrain. Lasar volunteered two drivers. “To get up the hill you have to cross two massive water gullies which you can pass on foot but not with a normal vehicle. We’ve used the Hagglunds to transport pumps, 1000 litres of water and a fire fogging unit, which is basically a glorified jet washer, which will spray water over a large area,” said Paul Calland, the operations manager.

As they worked they were offered strawberry Cornettos by Alexa Dias, four, and her sister Erica, three. “They wanted to come and say thank you,” said their dad, Trevor Dias. The ice creams were gratefully received. “I think this will be the best ice cream of my life,” said Russel, as he checked on his crews.

All of the firefighters said how they had been buoyed by support from members of the public. Over in Stalybridge, where a seven square mile fire has been raging on Saddleworth Moor since last Sunday, Janine East had been offering free chips to all emergency workers.

She and her four-year-old daughter were evacuated from their house in Carrbrook on Tuesday night when flames came within 200 metres of their estate.

“I wanted to offer them free food and drink because they are working so hard,” she said. “It’s so hot and they are carrying heavy equipment up such steep and uneven terrain.”

It had been a scary week, she said: “When we were evacuated I couldn’t see a thing out of my window, it was that smoky. You could just see glowing embers floating past. When we left I had a wet tea towel over my head and a cushion covering my daughter’s face. It was terrifying.”

Everyone is so grateful to the fire service for saving their houses, she said, which is why they were pulling together. “People can’t do enough for the firefighters.”