Spate of car fires in town

Firefighters were called to three suspicious blazes involving vehicles across Leigh within the space of a few hours.

Other news: MP objects to urban village planCars were set alight on Kirkhall Lane, Gordon Street and Cook Street, with the final two incidents occurring at almost exactly the same time.

All three fires have been described as extremely suspicious, with two of the cases apparently involving something to start the blaze being thrown into the vehicles.

Firefighters from Leigh were first called to Kirkhall Lane at around 1.55am on Sunday as a Ford Fiesta parked on the road was on fire.

Crews from Atherton and Leigh were then called to incidents at around 6.10am.

Firefighters from Atherton tackled a fire on Gordon Street involving a Vauxhall Corsa set alight in circumstances described as extremely suspicious as the worst damage, where the blaze is believed to have started, was to the interior.

The vehicle's owner told the crew about hearing a loud bang.

At the same time Leigh crews were dealing with a Volvo S60 with a smashed window which was alight on Cook Street.

In all three cases firefighters wearing breathing apparatus put out the flames.

Police have now been asked to look into all three fires.

Stuart Parr, crew manager at Leigh fire station, said: "It's hard for us to say at this stage that these incidents are linked but they are of a very similar nature.

"It's unusual to have so many car fires in one evening in one small location."