Posted: Tuesday 28 April 2020, 17:17
Firefighters have continued to fight a moorland fire at Rakes Moss for a sixth day.
Returning to the moorland early this morning, throughout the day crews from Derbyshire have continued to work with firefighters from Greater Manchester, Peak Park Rangers, land owners United Utilities and the RSPB to extinguish the fire, prevent any further fire spread and protect the ecosystem and wildlife on the moors.
Speaking from the moorland, Station Manager Marc Redford said: “Over the last few days crews have had to work in extremely hot, dry and challenging conditions, fighting a fire that is deep seated in the peat of the moorland.
“Today that firefighting continues. We are hopeful that tomorrow we will get some rain that will help and support our firefighting operations and allow us to scale the incident back, at which point we could look at handing the moorland back into the hands of landowners United Utilities and Peak Park Rangers.”
Firefighters have once again been supported by the Salvation Army who have provided food and drinks to everyone working on the moorland.
A fire investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.
Derbyshire Fire & Rescue Service would like to remind people of current government Covid-19 advice to stay at home, to save lives and protect the NHS.