Shropshire Firefighters called to a number of weekend grass fires
With the warm weather over the weekend Shropshire Firefighters were called out to deal with a number of incidents around the county.
Shropshire Fire and Rescue service recorded attending seven incidents over the weekend with fires in Wellington, Newport, Cleobury Mortimer, Oakengates and Madeley.
On Sunday afternoon firefighters tackled a gorse fire on Catherton Common , Cleobury Mortimer, South Shropshire with approximately 1000 square meters of gorse on fire. One appliance attended a tree fire in High Street Madeley and in Spring Hill, Wellington a fire involving 25m of hedgerow was brought under control.
Police believe a fire which partly destroyed a field of corn stubble in Shrewsbury on Thursday was deliberately started and are warning that those deliberately starting fires were putting people's lives at risk and would face prosecution.
About one-quarter of a 20-acre field off Dale Road in Monkmoor was damaged in the blaze between 12pm and 2pm yesterday. A section of hedgerow was also damaged.
Police believe the initial fire may have been in a wheelie bin found in the field, although the stubble may also have been set alight separately.
The fire service dealt with the incident which resulted in traffic on Telford Way being stopped for a short time for safety reasons due to the heavy smoke.
Police Constable Kerry Hawkins, the investigating officer, said: “It is being treated as arson and I am appealing for witnesses who may have seen anything suspicious in the fields, to call Shrewsbury police station on 0300 333 3000″.
