Moorland Fire at Cragg Vale, Mytholmroyd

Moorland Fire Cragg Vale 

 

ROAD CLOSURE: The B6138 BLACKSTONE EDGE ROAD  / TURVIN ROAD is STILL CLOSED

Fire crews have dealt with a major moorland fire around the Cragg vale area of Calderdale. Eight appliances including 2 wildfire units from Todmorden and Holmfirth were at the scene attempting to contain the spread. Crews who initially attended at around 12:50hrs 05/05 needed assistance and appliances from Mytholmroyd, Halifax, Brighouse, Illingworth, Holmfirth, Todmorden, and Elland are some of the crews who attended. A Water Carrying unit also attended from Stanningley to secure water supplies for the incident

Some roads around the area were closed by the Police whilst the incident was ongoing


This view just shows how dangerous fires on the moors can be.

View of the large fire front on Soyland Moor taken by West Yorkshire Police Copyright NPAS Carrgate

The Police helicopter attended to assist senior fire officers at the incident to get an overall aerial view of the fire and help best plan resources.From the image above it can be clearly seen how long one of the fire fronts was at 14:47 05/05.
 

18:40 Update

Crews still dealing with the incident using jets and fogging units from wildfire units in attendance. The firefighting operations are being hampered by strong winds that are continually changing direction. A helicopter is also being used fitted with a water bucket to douse the flames from the air.

Link to Video from Halifax Courier: http://t.co/gToPAz0LdJ

21:00 Update

Cragg Road now reported to have been reopened

Update 09:00 06/05/2013

A team of specialist wildfire officers successfully dealt with the fire, helped by equipment provided by Yorkshire Water, the Walshaw Dean Estate and other land owners.
Station commander Andy Newman, who was leading the team, said: “There had been very much a partnership approach to tackling this fire.
“The South Pennine Wildfire Operations Group allows us to share a range of equipment, resources and knowledge.”
West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service also drafted in a helicopter to drop water on to the blaze. It collected water from Ogden Reservoir and dropped it on to the fire. Fire crews used an Argocat vehicle to transport crews around the fire site and also carry vital equipment to firefighters dealing with the incident on the ground.

The blaze is believed to have been started deliberately.

West Yorkshire firefighters have had a busy start to the Bank Holiday weekend attending more than 150 incidents, 80 of which were fires in the open.