Telford grassland fire 'was started deliberately'

The fire was discovered on land off Spout Way in Malinslee and fire crews used an off-road Land Rover to get to the fire in a large area of undergrowth. They spent 90 minutes putting out the flames using hoses and beaters.

Watch manager Gareth Walker at Telford Central fire station said: "The cause has gone down as malicious and doubtful.

"These are cases where no property of value has been damaged but the circumstances will be monitored for any trends or patterns to try to cut down on them."

The fire started just after 4.30pm yesterday.

Earlier in the afternoon, fire crews were called out to two grass fires in Telford within an hour.

The first fire was on Manor Road in Dawley where 50 square metres of grass was involved in fire.

Fire crews from Telford Central station were called to the blaze, which they extinguished using hose reel jets just after 3pm.

The second fire broke out in Telford Town Park, where a further 10 square metres of undergrowth and fallen tree debris was alight.

Crews from Wellington were called to the fire at 2.22pm which was extinguished within 15 minutes.

The three fire are not being linked at this stage.

It comes after a number of fires broke out on open land across Shropshire over the weekend. On Sunday, two fires started within an hour just meters of each other in Eardington, Bridgnorth.

Fire crews from Bridgnorth were called to the first blaze next to the Railway line, involving around 150 square metres of land. It was put out using a hose-reel jet by 7.30pm.

Shortly after a further 60 square metres of undergrowth was involved in fire and was extinguished by the Bridgnorth crew using beaters and a backpack sprayer.