Marsden Moor: Crews explain battle to beat moorland fires

The blazes on Marsden Moor on Thursday were the first two big moorland fires of the year, firefighters said

Fire crews who tackled two moorland blazes in West Yorkshire have explained their struggle to contain the flames.

Ten fire engines, wildfire officers, a drone team and Yorkshire Water were sent to the scene of the first fire in the Pule Hill area on Thursday.

Hours later, a second wildfire broke out near Wessenden Lodge with people being urged to avoid the area.

The fire service said the area of the second fire was watched overnight to stop it from reigniting.

Chris Bell, assistant district commander, was at the scene of both fires outside Marsden, near Huddersfield, and said crews worked for hours to put out the flames.

"These are the first two big moorland fires we've had this year and crews went from one to the other, working hard to keep the flames under control," he said.

"We were able to contain the first fire quite quickly, but the second one proved to be far reaching as it had started out as a number of fires, which merged into one area."

The second fire, near Wessenden Lodge, spread to an area of around 2 sq km, the fire service said

He said the fire began to spread towards Saddleworth Moor and Featherbed Moss but crews managed to contain it.

Rainfall on Friday helped dampen down the area, he added.

The first fire covered an area of around 1.5km (0.9m) by 500 metres (0.3m).

The blaze near Wessenden Lodge spread across an area of around 2 sq km (1.24 sq miles).

The fire service urged people not to used barbecues or start fires when visiting moorland.

Firefighters also asked visitors not to leave litter or glass and not to discard lit cigarettes.

Beaters were used to extinguish the fires

Marsden Moor is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, famous for its rare ground-nesting birds and blanket peat bogs.

In recent years fires in the area "have caused widespread devastation to this special landscape", the National Trust said.