A fire which led to the destruction of equipment belonging to a litter picking group is believed to have been deliberate.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) officers from Whitefield Fire Station attended the fire yesterday, August 4, at 5.45pm.
The blaze, which was at a shipping container shared by Radcliffe Litter Pickers and Incredible Edible Radcliffe on Belmont Road, Radcliffe, started from a tyre which had been set alight.
Watch Manager Mark Robertson at Whitefield station said: "There was a tyre that had been set on fire. It was burning so hot that it transferred the heat to the container and the stuff inside caught fire.
"There was a little gap in between two containers and someone set fire to the tyre, they burn well rubber tyres.
"We had to break into the container to extinguish the fire.
"We were there for an hour and a half. Luckily the container wasn't full of anything dangerous."
He confirmed that no one was harmed in the fire.
A Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: “Shortly before 6pm on Friday 4 August, firefighters were called out to a fire on Belmont Road, Radcliffe.
“Two fire engines from Bury and Whitefield quickly attended the scene where a storage container was on fire.
"Crews used a hose reel and a thermal camera to extinguish the fire and were in attendance for fifty minutes.”
Speaking yesterday, Gill Smith, a volunteer with Radcliffe Litter Pickers, said: “Lots of our things have been donated and passed on, we had strimmers and all sorts which have now completely gone.
“The container is okay but it looks as though the heat from a fire outside of it has gotten so intense that it has melted everything inside.
“Hopefully we can get a good response after this and rebuild everything that has now been lost.”
To learn more about Radcliffe Litter Pickers, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2839975599560782/
To learn more about Incredible Edible, click here: https://www.incredibleedible.org.uk/what-we-do/
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