Pet scare as crews fight moors blaze
Date published: 05 May 2011
THIS was the dramatic scene when a huge blaze broke out on the hillside above Uppermill in the early hours of this morning. Police and Mountain Rescue workers helped firefighters by ferrying equipment along the narrow roads. Picture: GPSJ News
FIFTY fire fighters tackled a dramatic blaze on the hillside above Uppermill this morning.
It started at around 1am close to three houses and Petsville Cattery and Kennels in Ladcastle Road.
This was extinguished at 3am but a second fire then broke out around 500 metres away. It developed rapidly and spread towards Saddleworth golf course.
City centre support was drafted in to help firefighters from Mossley, Oldham, Hyde and Hollins. Police and Mountain Rescue workers also helped ferry equipment along the narrow roads to the scene.
The fire is believed to have been started deliberately. No homes were evacuated and none of the animals at Petsville were harmed.
Owner Barbara Thompson drove them to safety and said: “All the animals are absolutely safe. The fire did not actually come on our land but it came all around.
“We did not have a lot of pets with it being the end of Easter and the the end of the Bank Holiday.
“I just got them all into my vehicle, drove down and sat by the river until it was all over.”
Meanwhile, much–needed rain is today set to bring some respite to emergency workers battling raging heathland fires across the UK.
Areas of Scotland, Wales and North West England — which have been hit by some of the worst blazes — will be doused by outbreaks of showers, experts predict. But central and southern areas of England will have to wait until Saturday for rain.
The hottest April on record, which saw only 21 per cent of the expected rainfall in England and Wales, has caused vast areas of parched, tinder–dry land to go up in flames over the past week.
Strong winds and very little rainfall has hampered the efforts of hundreds firefighters and emergency workers, with helicopters being used to drop water in the worst–affected regions.
