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Moorland is left destroyed after camp fire blaze

14/ 7/2005

MOORLAND was destroyed after a camp fire was left unattended.

The blaze is thought to have started after someone tried to cook food on a fire.

But when the fire began to get out of control they abandoned it and it later spread to around 800 sq ft of moorland.

Five fire engines were called to the fast-spreading blaze at 5.30pm on Sunday and did not leave until around 2am on Monday.

Helicopters were used to water bomb the blaze and also to transport firefighters from the top of the Snake Pass to the fire on Birchen Clough.

Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service is now urging people to be extra vigilant when on the moors, much of which were destroyed by fire in 2003, by not leaving fires unattended or discarding cigarette ends.

Glossop's leading firefighter Nick Lacey said: "The land up there is getting drier and drier with the hot weather and people need to be more careful.

"It's done quite a lot of damage as it is but it could've been a lot worse.

"And while all our resources were tied up on the moors, there could have been more serious fires that we couldn't get to.

"The heather takes years to re-seed itself and grow back and a lot of people have been working hard to undo the damage of the last fires.

"Hopefully the message is getting through."