Atherton firefighters get nine calls in one shift

The Atherton crew were called to tackle two blazing cars, scorched bushes, burning rubbish and wheelie bins that had been torched.

A spokesman said: "It was one of those days. We were in and out all night."

At about 7.30 pm they put out burning rubbish and trees in woodland off Leigh Road near Howe Bridge.

The spokesman said: "Some kids had piled rubbish up against some trees and got a fire going nicely."

Just before midnight a wheelie bin on Wordsworth Avenue on the Hag Fold Estate was set on fire.

Then shortly after midnight the firefighters put out a shop front fire in Cumberland Avenue on Tyldesley's Shakerley Estate.

A spokesman said: "Someone had put rubbish under the rolled shutters and set it alight. We got there in time before it spread into the shop. The windows were already broken though, the shop wasn't being used."

An hour later the firefighters were back on the Shakerley Estate again to put out a Montego estate car that had been set on fire at Devon Road. The car boot and back wheels were damaged.

Then at around 2am firefighters travelled to Union Street in Tyldesley to extinguish a Fiat Punto that had been torched, its the front end, engine and front wheels were damaged.

A fire service spokesman said: "This car was someone's pride and joy. Someone had spent a lot of time doing it up. It had a lot of special fittings and special wheels on it."

Burning bushes

Half an hour later the fire crew out out burning bushes which had been set alight on Shakerley Road.

"Some sort of fluid had been used over the rubbish to help set it on fire."

At 3am a wheelie bin was torched on Stanley Street in Tyldesley town centre.

Atherton fire crew were also called out to Mornington High School at Hindley but it turned out to be a false alarm.

It is thought some of the fires could possibly be related and the police have been informed of all the fires that had been started deliberately.