FIREFIGHTERS have warned anyone planning a moorland outing this Easter weekend to avoid creating fire hazards in the town's beauty spots.

A blaze which raged through two square miles of moorland in Belmont on Tuesday night and into yesterday was clearly visible from parts of the town and fire crews fear they could be tackling something similar closer to home unless walkers and picnickers act responsibly. They have also issued a stern warning to people who start grass fires deliberately that they are risking lives.

The blaze in Belmont, and similar fires at Pickup Bank and Rivington, have decimated miles of moorland, spreading at high speed and raging for up to 24 hours because of the dry conditions. The area around Darwen Tower has only recently recovered from the fires of 1995 which lasted more than a week and damaged 12 acres.

Moorland around Darwen and Tockholes is always popular with families and friends wanting to enjoy the sunshine.

Leading firefighter Liam Wilson warned: "Anyone going up on to the moors this weekend needs to remember to take all their rubbish with them and not to discard any cigarettes.

"The alarming thing is that we are attending a lot of grass fires which appear to have been started deliberately.

"If we are attending a deliberately-started grass fire in Lower Darwen and there's a house fire in Whitehall, it's going to take a lot longer for an engine from another station to get there."