Nuisance fire set in park play area

Firefighters from Hindley station were called to Alexandra Park in Newtown at around 8.45pm on Tuesday.

They found a pile of rubbish with items including pop cans and crisps bags burning in the children’s play area.

No-one was still in the park when the fire engine arrived.

Fire crews say they believe local youths are responsible for setting the fire and have urged them to stop as it ties up scarce resources and potentially stops firefighters reaching genuine emergencies.

Crew manager Craig Cubbins from Hindley fire station said: “They tend to have their little party, set a fire, call us and then run off. They give us the run around and ruin the children’s play area while they are at it.

“It’s kids being mischievous but it’s stopping our resources. Wigan’s crew were on another incident so we had to go over there and with the travel time it took half an hour.

“If Wigan and Leigh had a house fire we would back them up and there was no cover in Hindley while we were putting out some rubbish.”