BONFIRE blazes in East Lancashire cost the council taxpayer nearly £30,000 at the weekend as fire crews answered nearly 150 emergency calls -- half of them in Burnley and Nelson.

Burnley crews were called to 50 unsupervised bonfires between Friday evening and early today. Nelson firefighters went to about half that number of incidents during the same period.

Burnley station commander Dave Jackson has called the cost in terms of nuisance value and wasted finances unacceptable.

He said: "There is the risk of injury to the youngsters involved and to property if the fires get out of control.

"But there is not only the cost and nuisance factor but the real risk is that if there is a real emergency crews will be tied up and there will be a delay."

The Burnley crews were called out 16 times on Saturday night alone. Fifteen of those "shouts" were to fires which had been started deliberately and the other was a malicious call connected to a bonfire incident.

Nelson crews had 10 calls on the same evening.

Firefighters from the two stations also attended about a dozen similar incidents on Friday.

The fire service estimate a cost of £200 every time an engine is sent out.

From early Saturday evening until the early hours of Sunday morning Burnley crews were called to bonfires in Cowley Crescent, Pratt Street, Sedburgh Street, Abel Street, Scott Park Road, Brownhill Avenue, a malicious call to Clegg Street, bonfires at Hebrew Road, Grey Street, Sedburgh Street again, several bonfires in Disraeli Street, Mitella Street, a derelict house in Elmwood Street, and to Sedburgh Street for a third time.

At 2.15am residents reported flames coming through the roof of a pair of derelict houses in Woodpecker Hill. Two pumps and the aerial ladder platform were at that incident for about an hour.

At 3am a van in Lee Street was set on fire and destroyed.

The same watch had to put out 11 bonfires on last night.

They also had to attend a malicious call, a call made with good intent, suspicious cars fires on the Long Causeway and Plumbe Street and a fire in a skip.

Station Officer Duncan Emmott said: "It is silly season for bonfires and we have taken a pounding.

"Fortunately no-one was hurt.

"Most of the calls were to fires started by children.

"We have to attend these unsupervised fires to prevent youngsters getting hurt.

"We try to explain to them the dangers involved and why we have to put them out but often they are not too happy and we get a bit of abuse from them."

Mr Emmott said that apart from the cost there was always a risk that a genuine emergency could happen while crews were attending those incidents and that vital time could be lost.

Elsewhere there were 28 call-outs in Blackburn, 10 in Darwen and 32 in Accrington.