Woodland blaze started deliberately

Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service says a woodland fire near Stone yesterday was started deliberately.

It took firefighters almost four hours using three fire engines and a water carrier to get the blaze in woodland off Hilderstone Road under control. They were called to the scene just after 3pm and it wasn’t under control until 6.45pm.

At its height, around 150 square metres of woodland was on fire, near the Hilderstone crossroads on the B5027 towards Little Stoke.

Station manager Dave Steele said: “The crews did an excellent job of preventing the fire from spreading further. The damage could have been far worse.”

The fire service tweeted last night:

@bitofstoneIncident is believed to be deliberate ignition.

— Staffordshire Fire(@StaffsFire) May 7, 2013

The fire service has attended a number of grass fires across the county over the last few weeks and has a ‘Flames Aren’t Games’ campaign to hit home the seriousness of starting fires. Call the police on 101 if you have any information about the Hilderstone Road fire.

Have you got any pictures of the fire? Mail them to news@alittlebitofstone.com and I’ll pop them on here. Thanks