FIRE crews came under a hail of bottles and bricks after they were deliberately lured to a Little Hulton estate by a gang of teenagers.4

The firefighters were called out to the same rubbish blaze twice -- and believe youths who were waiting for them at Kenyon Way had started the fire before dialling 999.

After the first fire, which the crews had to leave to burn because of the danger from the flying bottles and bricks, they retreated and went back to the station.

But a short time later, they received another call to the same fire. This time, they sent a second crew as back up and tackled the blaze from a distance. Sub officer Nick Pynem from Farnworth fire station, said: "There was a gang of about eight teenagers aged about 15 or 16, they were standing on an embankment waiting for us. The fire was just rubbish piled near a tree.

"It could have been a nasty situation. It was obvious these lads just wanted to have a fight. Hopefully they will have had their fun now."

Sub officer Pyne added: "I don't know what the solution is. With the younger children we can try to get into the schools and talk to them. But with the older ones, it is more difficult."

A police spokesman said they were called at about 7.30pm by a member of the public. He said: "We received a report that firefighters were having problems with local youths. They were believed to have deliberately started grass and rubbish fires.

"When a patrol car arrived, the youths had run away."

The incident was the latest in a spate of vandal attacks on fire crews and buses in Little Hulton.

A month ago vandals threw a brick at the windscreen of a fire engine in Aspinall Street as it responded to a rubbish fire. The windscreen shattered but the driver escaped injury.

Bus services were also withdrawn from the estate after yobs attacked them.