A HUGE grassland fire destroyed 500 square metres of a playing field, and left some of those residents who attempted to tackle it needing treatment for smoke inhalation.
Six fire crews spent some hours bringing the blaze off Water Royd Drive, Dodworth, under control on Wednesday night.
The fire, which quickly spread after starting at about 6.15pm according to witnesses, damaged several conservatories and one shed and an investigation has begun to establish the cause, which is still unknown.
A fire service spokesman said crews remained on the street until 11pm but residents yesterday said it was a miracle no-one lost their life in the fire.
Phil McNulty, of Cramlands, said the field’s location, which is surrounded on three sides by properties and can only be accessed via ginnels or through Keresforth Primary School on its remaining side, proved a tough task for firefighters.
“It’s a real issue and it’s something we’ve warned about for some time now,” the 39-year-old said. “I can’t believe no-one was killed as it spread from one side of the field to the other, where properties are, in minutes.
“Hedges which separated the houses from the field went up in seconds it was horrific to see but we were really lucky with the wind direction. There’s a real problem with access to the field and crews struggled to get into the field as the only real point of entry, which is big enough for vehicles, is the school.
“There’s a significant risk to safety houses were minutes away from going up in flames.”
Resident Peit Leigh, 37, of Heather Knowle, told the Chronicle it was an ‘accident waiting to happen’.
“The council cut the grass about two weeks ago and big piles of dry grass were left all over the field,” he said.
“It’s always been an area where teens congregate and although no-one knows who caused it, we’re very lucky someone wasn’t seriously injured.
“The rate at which the fire spread was shocking. It’s scary how quick dry grass goes up in flames but the wind helped it mostly stay away from the large bulk of houses.
“No-one could do anything about it but watch, hope and wait to see how it panned out. The fire crews struggled to get access but they did a great job.”
Fire crews in Barnsley have told the Chronicle they are experiencing ‘unprecedented’ demand from grassland fires this summer, with more than 150 being dealt with since the beginning of June.
The alarming figure is more than three times as many as last summer’s statistics and ten times higher than those recorded in 2016, where just 11 were tackled. The heatwave, which has seen temperatures rise as high as 30C in July with very little rainfall, has exacerbated the problem, according to SYFR, as dry grass is much easier to light.
A spokesman from SYFR said: “Any small fire has the potential to spread and to become a more significant incident, and to potentially divert our resources from attending a more serious fire.
“Our crews and control staff have seen a large increase in incidents of this type over the last few weeks in Barnsley.
“Though this is a very busy period for us, local residents should be reassured that we do still have resources ready to respond to 999 calls.”
