Firefighters called to rubbish fires on the same Wigan street for the sixth time in six months

For the sixth time in as many months this week, a Wigan fire crew was called to a wooded area off York Street, Ashton, to find waste had been set alight.

While the flames have each time been easy enough to put out, those dealing with them say that distractions such as this could stall them getting to far more serious incidents elsewhere on their patch – with potentially fatal consequences.

The latest call-out involved plastic crates and cardboard rubbish found ablaze shortly after 8pm on Wednesday March 15.

Wigan crew manager Bryan Stewart said that firefighters had been to just about the same spot five times before: twice last September, once in November and twice in December.

He said: “Children are possibly responsible and it may be that what they are setting on fire is recycling stuff put out for collection at nearby houses, so it might be a good idea for residents to keep an eye out.

"But the main concern is that these minor incidents could delay us getting to life-threatening emergencies. If we were tackling this rubbish on York Street and then get reports of a house fire in Standish, precious minutes would be wasted finishing off at the first place then getting to the serious incident. The potential consequences don’t bear thinking about.

"This may be a bit of fun to those setting these fires but there’s nothing funny about this.”

Mr Stewart said he would be contacting the council and police about this ongoing issue.