Early this evening, our Team Leader was in contact with GMFRS Control regarding a developing major moorland fire, in the Turton Moor, Belmont area.

Our Team Leader was requested to liaise with the on-scene incident command fire officers resulting at 17:30 with a full team callout to the team to provide support and assistance to GMFRS and LFRS resources deployed at this moorland fire incident.

At the main control point, setup at Lower Pasture Barn Farm, Belmont, our Team Leader Garry Rhodes MBE was used by the incident command fire team as a source of local area knowledge and for information on access points and driveable tracks, mapping information was also shared.

As the fire moved over towards the Longworth Moor and Charters Moss areas, it was decided to relocate the fire control and main RVP point to the Blackburn Road/A666, Charters Moss area.

During this incident, at which multiple pumps and all-wheel-drive vehicles attended from GMFRS and LFRS, 21 Bolton MRT team members were present.

Our role on this incident was assisting with local area knowledge, guiding fire teams onto the moor, providing standby safety cover and also providing catering cover for the second RVP point at Charters Moss.

As darkness fell, all fire teams were withdrawn from the moor for safety reasons and the team was stood down on scene at circa 22:00.

Post-script: the fire was monitored overnight and throughout the following day, largely burning out of its own accord in the colder weather conditions of Sunday April 18th.