Crews tackle huge blaze on Saddleworth Moor

Firefighters have been tackling a large moorland blaze in West Yorkshire.

An area of around 1.5 square kilometres was burning on Saddleworth Moor after Britain saw its hottest winter day on record on Tuesday.

The fire near Marsden could be seen for miles around as crews from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service battled to contain it through the night.

Witnesses described the “terrible” scene of fire coming close to buildings high on the moorland.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service said the fire “now looks to be out”, but five fire engines and two specialist moorland firefighting units will remain on the moor “for much of the day to tackle any further hot spots”. They included engines from Marsden, Huddersfield and the Kirklees area.

Incident Commander Laura Boocock told the BBC it was “one of the biggest grass fires (she) has ever seen”, but it was “nothing they can’t handle”.

Tony Pearson, station commander from Odsal and Fairweather Green in Bradford, said: “It died down during the night but we came back at first light to get on the moor to get on top of it.”

Mr Pearson said there was at one point a long strip of fire which was worked on.

“The priority was to ensure that property at the bottom of the valley is safe and making sure the fire doesn’t spread down the valley,” he said.

He described the location of the fire as “horrendous” as it took firefighters an hour to get there due to the terrain.

“The access is really difficult, the land is really difficult to get across,” he said.

Mr Pearson said the National Trust has offered the use of a helicopter and dropping water from it was an option for later.

Witness Harry Broughton tweeted: “Never seen anything like this – had a drive up as these things look terrible .. high up on the Pennines between #Saddleworth and #Marsden on the Manc/Yorks border, but close to houses including two pubs. Hope it is contained..”

The fire on Saddleworth came after firefighters had to tackle a large gorse fire on Arthur’s Seat in Edinburgh.

Around 800 square metres of gorse was ablaze on the Salisbury Crags, with the flames visible across the city.Britain saw its hottest winter day on record on Tuesday when the mercury hit 21.2C (69.4F) in Kew Gardens, London.