FIRE crews have urged anyone planning on having private bonfires to contact their nearby fire stations to prevent unnecessary call outs.

Barrow Fire Station has issued a warning after crews attended a number of incidents which have turned out to be ‘controlled burns’ or private bonfires.

Among those was a derelict building fire on the former Salthouse Mills Industrial Site.

After a number of firefighters were dispatched to the area, a quick investigation found the source of the smoke to be controlled burning and advice was given to the responsible person. To prevent any more unnecessary call outs, Barrow Fire Station is urging the public to contact their local station in advance to any controlled burns.

A spokesman for Barrow Fire Station said: "It’s easy for members of the public (with the best intentions) to mistake these for more serious fires as sometimes smoke rising from behind buildings looks like the property is on fire.

"This means that our appliances have to attend to check the situation, and can delay our response to risk critical emergencies.

"If anyone is planning on having a bonfire (even during darkness hours) please contact your local full-time fire station and inform the crews, so that they can inform Fire Control, and stop us from being turned out unnecessarily so we remain available for life-risk incidents.

"We would also advise: do not carry out any controlled burns during long periods of dry weather, when the ground is tinder dry- a single wayward spark is enough to ignite a serious fire elsewhere

"Only burn items if completely necessary- consider green waste bins and trips to the local refuse centre first. Do not burn items close to buildings, trees, fencing or large bushes. There are restrictions on what you can and can’t burn, and it is a criminal offence to burn some items as this causes environmental damage which could end up with you being prosecuted and fined

"Do not burn items when the smoke can cause a nuisance to other people and always carry out burns on land you own."