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West Yorkshire moorland fires: Crews damping down Marsden Moor fire: Blaze covering 3,700 acres
(about 5 hours later)
Firefighters are damping down after a number of moorland fires broke out in West Yorkshire over the bank holiday weekend. A blaze on moorland in West Yorkshire is covering an estimated 15 sq km (6 sq miles or 3,700 acres) of wildlife habitat, the National Trust has said.
The fire service said eight crews remained on Marsden Moor following a blaze that started on Sunday. The fire, which the charity said was "most likely" caused by a discarded barbecue, started on Sunday evening at Easter Gate on Marsden Moor.
The National Trust said it was thought to have been started by a barbecue. The area near Huddersfield is important for rare nesting birds and for mountain hares.
Crews were also called to Ilkley Moor on Saturday where a fire spread over 25,000 sq metres. A man has been charged with arson. Fire crews and a helicopter remain at the scene in an attempt to dampen down.
Two other men arrested in connection with the fire have been released pending further investigation. It was the sixth fire to have broken out there this year, and the most significant of recent years, the trust said.
Firefighters remain at the scene on Ilkley Moor. The fire spread from Easter Gate across Close Moss and west towards Castleshaw in Saddleworth, Greater Manchester.
More Yorkshire stories On Monday evening, the flames spread across the A640 towards Readycon Dean Reservoir, but crews fought this breakout back to the road.
West Yorkshire Fire Service has appealed to people to stop lighting barbecues on the moors and parking on access tracks. Marsden Moor is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation due to its ground nesting birds and bog habitat.
The Marsden Moor fire is thought to have been started by a barbecue at Easter Gate at about 19:00 BST on Sunday, before spreading to neighbouring Saddleworth Moor in Greater Manchester. Deep peat covers much of the moor and is ideal for animals that like heavy rainfall and acidic soil.
Greater Manchester Fire Service said crews from six engines were at the moor fires in Oldham on Monday night and they were now "on top of" the situation. The trust, which owns the moor, fears the biggest loss will be to birds such as curlews, merlins and golden plovers and to mountain hares.
Ten fire crews remain at the scene from West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester, Cumbria and Merseyside. One firefighter suffered burns to his head after working at the site in Marsden on Monday.
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Craig Best, from the National Trust which owns Marsden Moor, said it was the sixth fire so far this year and covered about 3 sq km of land. Water pumps, a helicopter and a specialist high volume pump have been taking water from nearby reservoirs to the fire.
It is a Site of Special Scientific Interest, a Special Protection Area and a Special Area of Conservation due to the ground-nesting bird population and blanket bog habitat. The fire was the second major moor fire in the county over the Easter weekend, after a blaze broke out in two areas of Ilkley Moor, covering about six acres (2.5 hectares)
"We've invested several hundred thousand pounds in this landscape to make the moorland wetter, improve it for wildlife, improve the peat soils," Mr Best said. Firefighters are still at the scene on Tuesday, damping down.
"We estimate about £200,000 of restoration has literally gone up in smoke". One fire began near the Cow and Calf rocks and another smaller one was near Dick Hudson's pub in Bingley.
A man has since been charged with arson over the smaller of those two fires.
Two other men arrested in connection with the fire have been released pending further investigation.
The trust said at least three new fires had started in the Binn Moor and Deer Hill areas near Meltham, near Huddersfield, on Tuesday.
Chris Lawton, from West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: "There appears to be some further outbreaks of fire remote from this location, which we are dealing with.
"We have redeployed some air support to deal with those incidents.
"Sometimes it's not surprising that as the day warms up, the ground is parched, it doesn't take a lot to start a fire and cause significant damage."
Craig Best, from the National Trust, said: "We've invested several hundred thousand pounds in this landscape to make the moorland wetter, improve it for wildlife, improve the peat soils.
"We estimate about £200,000 of restoration has literally gone up in smoke."
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