Bonfire Night is one of the busiest nights of the year for firefighters. Manchester Evening News reporter Charlotte Hall joined a crew for their November 5 evening shift
Firefighters put a bonfire out(Image: LDRS)
Bonfire Night is one of the busiest nights of the year for firefighters across the UK – and Greater Manchester is no exception.
Fire crews were called to several incidents in the area last November 5, with incidents including a car being torched and some incidents being compared to ‘like a war zone’.
The Manchester Evening News joined the crew at Rochdale fire station for the evening shift to see how it compared to last year.
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The crew was called out to five incidents while journalist Charlotte Hall visited – a comparatively quiet bonfire night for the area, although other parts of Greater Manchester saw a dispersal order put in place.
The first call out was to ‘false alarm’ – a small bonfire in someone’s backyard in Kirkholt, where a group of residents were burning old furniture.
They were told by the crew simply not to add any more wood and let the fire burn out.
The crew were then called out to a huge blaze in a patch of land off Wardle Road, Smallbridge.
A family with kids was setting off fireworks and had created their own impressively sized bonfire, which was in a dug out pit leading down to a river.
At first crew deemed the fire to be safely contained- but after they were called out twice more by worried neighbours and passerbys to the growing fire, were forced to put it out.
The bonfire is put out (Image: LDRS)
The organiser of the homespun bonfire made it clear he was not happy about this decision and attempted to stop the crew by parking his car on top of the fire hose.
“It happens sometimes,” one of the crew later explained. “People kick off because they see it as ‘we’re ruining their fun’. But we just have to get on with the job.”
Karl Higginson, the crew manager, said: “It’s not something we want to do, put bonfires out. But we told him to stop putting fuel on it and he didn’t listen – and that could be taking us away from other really serious incidents.
“While we were out, the other crew were called to a high rise where a blind couple were potentially struggling to get out of a burning building. We weren’t here for that.”
Another call-out saw the crew assisting with a medical emergency at a private home – an increasingly common occurrence as the fast-responding fire crew is pulled in by other ‘stretched’ services.
The crew also faced a false alarm at Birch Hill Hospital, where it’s assumed someone accidentally pulled the fire alarm.
This year was a blissfully ‘chilled’ year for Rochdale fire station – with crew manager Lee Oldham remembering previous years with more than 20 call outs in a single shift.
“It’s not been so busy today,” said firefighter Amir Ahmed, “It’s pot luck. Weather plays a big part and it being during the week on a school and work night – it makes a big difference. We were a lot busier on the weekend.
“There’s also a lot of due diligence we do leading up to these events, where we visit fireworks shops and things like that – so we’re quite prepared.”
Mr Higginson added: “The prevention work is a big aspect of our job now. That’s what we do daily now – creating awareness in schools and businesses, as well as checking firework shops. Encouraging kids to go to the official events rather than making their own.”