FIREFIGHTERS were called out to tackle a large wildfire that scorched a field in Rivington.

Fire engines from Bolton North and Lancashire attended the incident at 4.30pm off Belmont Road yesterday.

Passers-by watched on as crews tried to battle back the flames but, according to Niamh Woodall, who lives close to the area near the Black Dog pub, they kept re-igniting.

Miss Woodall, who took pictures of the blaze, said: “We were just walking past and we saw this massive fire in the field.

“There were a lot of people around it and the firefighters were putting it out but the grass kept catching fire again and again.

“It looked like it had been going on for a while. I don’t know whether someone had started it but it was really bad.”

It took crews an hour to put the fire out with leaf blowers. It is not yet known what caused the blaze.

Mick Hodson, watch manager at Bolton North Fire Station, said: “The fire was about 50m by 100m and we were lucky that the conditions were quite damp. On a summer’s day it could have spread a lot worse.”

This is the second wild fire to take place in the Rivington area in the past month.

On Sunday, April 9, fire crews fought a blaze close to the Chinese Gardens near Rivington Pike Residents could see the blaze from miles away.

Chorley Fire Station crew manager Ian Turnbull said he believed it was started deliberately.

At the time he said: “It is a nuisance. By doing this, people are tying us up. It’s the equivalent of a malicious call.”