FIRE chiefs have issued a warning after they were called to two fires in back yards at houses in Bury.

Crews were called to an incident in East Street at 8.30pm last night, when a man had started a fire in his garden and burnt rubbish on it.

The fire had become too large, and firefighters from Bury fire station attended to extinguish it.

The firefighters then spotted smoke at nearby Spring Street, where a man had started a fire in a back yard.

Again the fire had become too large to control, and the fire service said the man was “frantically” trying to put out the fire himself.

Carl Bostock, crew manager from Bury fire station, said: “It is not a good idea to have fires in your back garden.

“At Spring Street, the fire was very close to the man’s house, and he was very lucky that it didn’t take hold. He could have lost his house.”