Bury firefighters tackle bonfires through the night

Firefighters from the Magdalene Road station were called to Clarence Park early on in the evening to a bonfire in a skate park.

Simon Wheelwright, crew manager, said that youths had set the rubber matting on fire.

After dealing with the incident, the crew spotted police supervising a group with large fireworks at around 7:30pm in another part of Clarence Park.

Mr Wheelwright said: "Almost to the detriment of the children, the fireworks fell and went towards the children, the adults, the fire service and police. Advice was given and they stopped."

Police did not confiscate the "large" fireworks despite the incident.

Around 1am the crew received reports of "an extreme amount" of fireworks in the car park in Iceland.

Firefighters were told that the fireworks may have landed on top of the supermarket.

Following a full check internally and externally, the crew concluded that there was no damage or danger.

The crew received another call about an unsupervised bonfire up against some trees near Knight Street.

When they attended the area, which was described as wasteland near to some terraced houses, no one was nearby.

Throughout the night, the crew were called out around five times to attended small fires but were happy to leave them burning as someone responsible was in attendance.

Whitefield Fire Station's crew also attended a couple of small bonfires in Bury but both were supervised.

The crew at the Bury New Road station said that the night before was busier.

Across Greater Manchester last night, the fire and rescue service attended more than 200 incidents from 5pm.

Bury Fire Station's crew manager said that it is "highly likely" that last night was the busiest of the year for his crew.

However, the whole week before and the weekend in particular was a busy period.

Mr Wheelwright said: "If there is a large amount in that area, then we go back and monitor that area, give advice and be more visual. Hopefully people come up and talk to us."