This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A man has been arrested on suspicion of arson after a fire broke out on hills near Chorley in Lancashire.



Lancashire constabulary and Lancashire fire and rescue are carrying out a joint investigation into the cause of the fire at Winter Hill.



A 22-year-old man from Bolton was arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.



About 80 firefighters worked through Thursday night to tackle the grass fire on the hills near Rivington, about 30 miles from the large blaze near Saddleworth Moor.



A Lancashire police spokesman said on Friday: “Fire crews continue to tackle the blaze which broke out yesterday afternoon.

“The origin and cause of the fire remain unknown. One man, aged 22, from Bolton, has been arrested on suspicion of arson with intent to endanger life.”

The fire authority was first called about the incident at 3.21pm on Thursday and, by 8pm, 15 fire engines from Lancashire and Manchester were in attendance. The area affected was approximately 1 sq km in size.

A Lancashire fire brigade statement said firefighters were tackling the blaze from three locations, assisted by mountain rescue officers and United Utilities a water company.

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It said there was no immediate risk to people or livestock, but advised keeping windows and doors closed.



It is the second time in almost a week that firefighters have fought flames on moorland near Chorley.

A combined force of 200 soldiers and firefighters were continuing efforts to contain the fire near Saddleworth Moor, just outside Manchester, which started on Sunday. Helicopters have been dropping water while firefighters and soldiers used paddles to beat out the flames in 27C (80F) heat.

Fire chiefs asked the army to remain on the scene over the weekend to help control the blaze. Scottish soldiers from the 100-strong Highlanders, 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, had arrived on the scene on Thursday for an initial 48-hour deployment.

With possible changes in wind conditions and stretched resources throughout the region in mind, Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, asked the military to stay for another three days.



“This has probably been the busiest week for Greater Manchester fire and rescue service in living memory,” he said.

“As it is an ongoing situation, and because there has been in some places a flaring-up today of the fire, we believe we continue to need large numbers of people out there providing support, so a request has gone in from Greater Manchester to the government for the extension of the military support.”



In Merseyside, a fire broke out at the Ainsdale sand dunes national nature reserve near Southport earlier on Friday.



The senior nature reserve manager, Dave Mercer, said: “We don’t know how it started yet but there is probably several acres of pine woods that have burnt.

“We have managed to get it just before the winds took up, but it will take us about a week to get all the hot spots.”