Appeal after 20 fires are started in two months

Firefighters have been called to at least 20 fires there

Crews from Leigh fire station were called to Tinsley Green Way, off Plank Lane, Leigh, for a blaze involving tyres and flytipped waste set alight.

They were called at 9.40pm on Saturday and spent 50 minutes at the site, which leads to slag heaps.

And crew commander Andrew Kopicki said the firefighters had been called there at least 20 times in the past eight weeks to tackle deliberate fires.

He said: "It was a lot of tyres and flytipped rubbish last night. It is becoming a really problematic area. Police have been informed."

Chunks of concrete were put in place to stop people driving there to dump rubbish, but they do not seem to have solved the problem.

Now Mr Kopicki has spoken out to highlight the issues linked to these fires.

He said: "I want to make people aware that while we are dealing with these incidents, response times to real incidents such as house fires, car crashes and people trapped are going to take longer because the appliances have to be mobilised from further away.

"I am asking people to remain vigilant, to report anti-social behaviour, people flytipping or lighting fires.

"It's a drain on our resources but also impacts on the wider community."