{"id":147618,"date":"2018-06-28T09:16:02","date_gmt":"2018-06-28T09:16:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/soldiers-to-tackle-fire-near-saddleworth-moor\/"},"modified":"2018-06-28T09:16:02","modified_gmt":"2018-06-28T09:16:02","slug":"soldiers-to-tackle-fire-near-saddleworth-moor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/soldiers-to-tackle-fire-near-saddleworth-moor\/","title":{"rendered":"Soldiers to tackle fire near Saddleworth Moor"},"content":{"rendered":"
Media playback is unsupported on your device
Media captionTimelapse footage shows the spread of the fire near Saddleworth Moor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Soldiers have started arriving in Greater Manchester to help tackle the huge moorland fire that could last "for weeks".<\/p>\n

About 100 troops from the 4th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland, were sent from their barracks in Catterick, North Yorkshire, overnight.<\/p>\n

Military assistance was requested to help battle the blaze near Saddleworth Moor that has spread across 7 square miles, in six different areas.<\/p>\n

Helicopter help has been cancelled.<\/p>\n

About 60 firefighters worked overnight to subdue pockets of flames across the moorland above Stalybridge.<\/p>\n

A Chinook helicopter was due to fly out of RAF Odiham, Hampshire, to move water-pumping equipment but Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) notified the Ministry of Defence it was "no longer required".<\/p>\n

Image copyright PA
Image caption The soldiers, who have started arriving, will be stationed at an Army training centre <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

GMFRS has faced many hurdles in trying to quell the blaze that has raged for days including frequent changes in wind direction, the heavy concentration of flammable peat in the ground and the tinder-dry foliage which has baked in searing temperatures.<\/p>\n

The soldiers, who have started arriving, will support the effort by managing water lines and assisting in fire beating. <\/p>\n

RAF Wing Commander Tony Lane said: "We will make sure the soldiers are working alongside the fire and rescue personnel so they are going to be pairing up together.<\/p>\n

"I think we are looking at one firefighter to three or four troops, so they can provide extra manpower to go and support them."<\/p>\n

Image copyright James Sullivan
Image caption A panoramic view showed the extent of the smoke on Wednesday evening <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Image copyright Inzy Rashid
Image caption Evidence the fire was still burning could be seen as dawn broke on Thursday in Carrbrook <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Image copyright Getty Images
Image caption The fire has caused a lot of damage to the moors <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dave Keelan, director of emergency response at GMFRS, said military intervention would allow firefighters to access more remote areas "so we can get there quicker with more people with the water supplies we hope to put in place to try and resolve the incident in a quicker nature".<\/p>\n

Tony Hunter, assistant chief fire officer for GMFRS, said the military would provide "essential support".<\/p>\n

He said the fire was "smouldering away at the moment", adding, "we can see this being prolonged for days if not weeks, particularly with the fact that the wind has drawn the fires towards the residential but actually away from the centre of the moor.<\/p>\n

Image caption Tony Hunter, chief fire officer for GMFRS, says the fire is "smouldering away" <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

"We only need a change in wind direction to then see that fire increasing into where the greater fuel source is, so we could see a dramatic change," Mr Hunter said.<\/p>\n

He said what was needed most was "a significant downpour of rain" - but none has been forecast.<\/p>\n

Mr Hunter said the soldiers' help would allow the service to keep other fire stations and engines available to deal with emergency calls as the moorland blaze continues.<\/p>\n

Image copyright PA
Image caption Firefighters continued to battle the fire at daybreak <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    \n
  • Moorland fire in pictures<\/li>\n
  • How do you tackle a moorland blaze?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    On Wednesday, firefighters had faced the arduous task of hauling pumps and hoses for up to two miles in blistering heat to reach parts of the fire.<\/p>\n

    Greater Manchester Police deployed a helicopter to assess the scene and United Utilities provided a helicopter to drop water on to remote areas.<\/p>\n

    Image copyright PA
    Image caption Helicopters have been used to drop water on to the burning ground <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    The blaze has now been burning for four days in a row.<\/p>\n

    Having started on Sunday it was initially brought under control but reignited on Monday and has continued throughout the hot and dry weather this week.<\/p>\n

    About 150 people were forced to leave their homes in the village of Carrbrook on Tuesday evening as the fire encroached.<\/p>\n

    The majority had returned by Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

    Angela Hardman from Public Health England said the smoke could cause health problems for people living and working near the fire.<\/p>\n

    She said it could "create an irritant to air passages and cause an irritation to the skin and eyes which, for some people, can lead to coughing and wheezing and breathlessness and potentially chest pains, so it can also exacerbate some existing health problems".<\/p>\n

    Image copyright AFP\/ Getty Images
    Image caption Police community support officers patrolled the village of Carrbrook <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Media playback is unsupported on your deviceMedia captionTimelapse footage shows the spread of the fire near Saddleworth Moor Soldiers have started arriving in Greater Manchester to help tackle the huge<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":147619,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-147618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=147618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/147618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/147619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=147618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=147618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=147618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}