THREE wildfires on moorland over the weekend are believed to have been started 'deliberately'.

Crews from across East Lancashire and Greater Manchester attended two fire in Bacup on Friday and Saturday nights and then another on Blackburn Road in Turton on Sunday night.

Wildfire expert from Lancashire Fire and Rescue Service Shaun Walton appeared on Radio Lancashire yesterday to talk about the fires.

He said: "All of them were quite challenging as they were running quite quick in terms of rate of the speed the fires were travelling.

"At this time of year, there is not a lot happening on the moors with people barbecuing or trail bikes or even if there are vehicles up there, the moisture content of the fuel will not ignite so our thoughts are that all three fires were deliberate."

Six engines attended the scene in Turton at 5.24pm on Sunday.

Mr Walton added: "One of the things we want to deal with these fires as quickly as we can. We have invested in our wildfire burns team who are deployed and burn the fire so it has no fuel and will go out."