EXHAUSTED firefighters warned parents to keep an eye on their children after a weekend spent tackling more than double the usual number of grass fires.

The ground is tinderbox dry and crews in the region have worked non-stop fighting fires which they believe were started by youngsters.

One crew at Blackburn fire station attended 66 fires over three days, more than 50 per cent above average. The rear of Fishmoor Drive, Bolton Road and Grimshaw Park areas were the worst trouble spots.

Accrington firefighters were repeatedly called out to the Coppice and also tackled blazes in Hodder Street and along the canal bank.

Accrington sub officer Ian Walker said. "So many fires in the same place means it can only be kids with matches.

"Whenever there are school holidays and it's dry like this, you always get these fires, but not usually so many."

Sub officer Beau Gaskin at Blackburn station said: "This station normally averages about ten fires a day but we have had 66 fires over the last three days. We've also been called out to major grass fires at Anglezarke and Lancaster."

He warned: "If we have grass fires all over the place, it's reducing the cover for house fires. We're having to cover for Darwen, Darwen are then covering for us.

"If we get four to five grass fires at the same time something has got to suffer. We would advise parents to watch what their children are up to."

Darwen firefighters were also kept busy, tackling three grass blazes at Bailey's Field. A spokesman for the station said: "It's just one after another. We don't know when it will end."

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