Four hurt in bonfire celebrations

Fire crews and paramedics in the West Midlands were deluged with four times as many calls as normal and four people in the region were injured because of fireworks and bonfire related injuries.

Around 400 emergency calls were made to West Midlands Fire Service between the early evening and midnight last night compared with 109 the night before.

Ambulance crews also had a busy night dealing with four serious burns in the Black Country and South Staffordshire, while in Shropshire fire crews were called to 25 incidents. It was a busy night for Staffordshire fire service which received 138 calls.

The first serious injury happened on Cardiff Street, Penn, Wolverhampton, shortly before 8.45pm. Ambulance crews arrived to find a man with burns to his hands and it is believed the man was holding a firework when it exploded. He was treated at the scene and dressings were applied to his burns before crews transferred him to the city’s New Cross Hospital.

Thugs threw a firework into the crowds at an organised display at Wolverhampton Rugby Club, hitting a young boy in the leg.

The boy, believed to be aged between seven and 10, was treated for shock.

It happened at the Castlecroft Road club at around 8.30pm, 15 minutes after the display began. It was attended by around 400 people.

Club president Dr Duncan Rutherford said: “There was a group of youths who threw the firework and then ran off. I cannot believe that anyone would do something so stupid.”

Crews were then called to St Annes Road in Willenhall at around 9.30pm to reports of a teenager who had burns to his arm and hand after running through a bonfire.

A man in Pattingham near Wolverhampton was hit in the chest with a firework at around 11pm. Ambulance crews were called to Clive Road and treated him at the scene before taking him to New Cross Hospital.

A derelict building on the site of a Kingswinford school was devastated by fire following a suspected arson attack involving a firework. Firefighters were today still at the scene at The Summerhill School in Lodge Lane.

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