Staffordshire Fire and Rescue received more than 50 call outs to secondary fires over the most recent Bank Holiday weekend.

Our crews work tirelessly to ensure that our communities are kept safe and that our rural areas are protected from the devastation caused by fire

Between 5pm on Friday 22 May and midnight on Tuesday 26 May the service logged 58 calls to a variety of blazes across the county.

Secondary fires are generally small fires which take place outside – typically in grass or heathland.

One example saw a total of more than 70 firefighters attend a fire covering approximately 15 hectares of Cannock Chase on Friday evening.

The blaze damaged a large area of Sherbrook Valley with crews from across the county tackling the fire in challenging weather conditions.

In total, more than 360 firefighters were called out to similar fires over the weekend at locations including back gardens, scrubland and woodland. Most of these started as a result of people not disposing of rubbish safely or having barbecues in unsafe areas.

Deputy Chief Fire Officer Rob Barber said: “Our crews work tirelessly to ensure that our communities are kept safe and that our rural areas are protected from the devastation caused by fire.

“This most recent Bank Holiday weekend saw our firefighters tackle some challenging incidents – some of which were not helped by people failing to dispose of their waste responsibly.

“Fire can spread very quickly and we have seen recent examples where fires have been started and spread – causing harm to local wildlife, habitats and also damaging homes and buildings – injuring people as a direct result of burning waste and rubbish.”