Rochdale playground fire: Parents shocked by Easter blaze

Videos of the playground blaze were shared by local residents online

A popular children's playground has been destroyed by fire and left "a ruin of what it once was", parents said.

Videos of the blaze at Bullough Moor park in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, just after midnight on Easter Monday have been shared online widely.

Resident Chelsea Levinsohn said the playground was well-loved by locals and had been her daughter's favourite spot.

She told BBC Radio Manchester the site had been "packed" over the Easter bank holiday weekend.

Ms Levinsohn said her young daughter was "dumbfounded that her favourite thing in the whole world was gone" after seeing the charred remains of play equipment.

A spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) said firefighters from Heywood fire station were called to the blaze at about 00:40 BST.

The cause of the fire has not been revealed, but Ms Levinsohn said many in the area feared it was the result of anti-social behaviour involving children, which local people were "really fed up with".

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