FIRE crews across Greater Manchester attended hundreds of incidents during a busy Bonfire Night weekend.
North West Fire Control, who take calls for the service, handled 364 calls on Sunday, November 5, alone – with crews from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) called out to 212 incidents.
Both of those figures are slightly down on last year, when 412 calls were received and fire crews were mobilised to 245 incidents.
Across the whole Bonfire Night weekend over November 3, 4 and 5, GMFRS crews attended 432 incidents.
These included many uncontrolled or unattended bonfires, as well as several isolated instances of anti-social behaviour.
Firefighters and police officers had fireworks and stones thrown at them whilst responding to an incident in Abbey Hey in Gorton, just outside Tameside.
Greater Manchester Police is pursuing “several lines of enquiry” as they investigate the incident.
Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101, quoting incident number 2174 of 05/11/23. Details can also be passed anonymously to the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
Dave Russel, Chief Fire Officer at GMFRS, said he was “saddened and angry” that his firefighters were once again attacked with missiles and faced with anti-social behaviour when trying to do their job.
“Bonfire Night is often the busiest night of the year for our crews, with the challenge always made greater when it falls on a weekend,” he said.
“I would like to thank our firefighters for the outstanding job they did over the weekend to keep people safe.
“Sadly, as we have seen in previous years, our crews faced anti-social behaviour and missiles being thrown when responding to incidents.
“It is completely unacceptable for firefighters to be attacked while doing their job. They work hard to keep others safe and put their lives on the line, so I’m both saddened and angry to see this happen to my staff.
“Thankfully no injuries have been reported but this is not a risk firefighters should ever have to face.”