FIREFIGHTERS were the busiest they have been since the summer's moorland fires last night.

Between Bolton Central Fire Station's two fire engines, the crew at Moor Lane were called out 15 times for bonfires.

Most were on open land but firefighters allowed them to burn as long as adults were supervising.

The crew at Bolton North Fire Station in Crompton Way also attended several bonfires but were not required to do anything.

Farnworth Fire Station received around 11 calls throughout the night but did not report anything irregular.

Most of the bonfires that the crew attended were supervised, but firefighters from the Albert Road station put out four of them.

Firefighters at Bolton Central were also called to reports of a fire on a playing field in Willows Lane, but did not locate the fire when they attended.

Crew manager Andy Bolton said: "We rang the caller who sent us round to Brandwood Street. But we went around the area and could not find it."

Mr Bolton said that bonfire night and the weekend before it was almost as busy as the moorland fires last summer.

He said: "Luckily, we did not have any anti-social behaviour in Bolton."

Across Greater Manchester last night, the fire and rescue service attended more than 200 incidents from 5pm.

The previous night, 127 incidents were reported across the city-region and firefighters attended 48 small fires that were bonfire related.

Between 5pm and 10pm on Sunday night, five bonfire related incidents took place in Bolton.

At 8.48pm one fire engine from Bolton North was called to reports of a fire in Lenham Gardens.

On arrival firefighters found some refuse on fire and used a hose reel to extinguish it.

Firefighters remained at the incident until 9.04pm.