Grass fire scars moor

Fire on the moors above Greenfield

GRASS fires swept across moorland in Saddleworth at the weekend.

Up to five crews from Oldham, Mossley and Stalybridge fire stations tackled six acres of burning moors between Dovestone Reservoir and Chew Valley Reservoir.

Crews were called out at 4pm on Saturday and used beaters and portable water kits for five hours before they were forced to stop as darkness fell.

Firefighters were back on the moors at 5am yesterday and extinguished the blaze by 10am.

Christine Sunderland, from Greenfield, said: “It looked like two patches of land were burning and there was a lot of grey smoke in the air.”

Watch commander Tom Green, from Oldham fire station, said: “The land has been designated special interest by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. We’re investigating the cause of the fire but we don’t think it was started due to natural causes.”