Dudley Councillor tells of ‘wartime’ spirit as wildfire raged through homes in Stourbridge

A Dudley councillor who joined the battle to keep a devastating Stourbridge fire from spreading has spoken of the ‘wartime’ community spirit.

Cllr Tony Creed, who represents the Norton ward where the grass fire broke out, joined residents as they fought desperately to stop further outbreaks in an area of woodland known as The Covert.

Had the fire spread to The Covert hundreds of homes could have been under threat but members of the public sprang into action to keep the flames at bay.

Cllr Creed said: “I was out in The Covert, Sandy Road, all the residents were there, we got hose pipes running down the gardens into The Covert keeping everything wet.

“They were coupling hoses together from all the houses to get water down into the bottom.

“Throughout the night the residents of Sandy Road had a rota for a fire watch, just walking around the wood.”

As the fire burned towards homes around Racecourse Lane embers and ash were being carried on the wind across a wider area including into the bone-dry Covert.

Cllr Creed said: “It did jump across, we were trying to kick sand over the embers but there was so much dead wood and dead leaves, we were stamping them out.

“People had got buckets of water ready to rush across and they would fill wheelie bins with with water so they could fill the buckets.

“They were spraying fences but it was dry again in ten minutes.

“It was a real wartime experience, we didn’t lose any houses on Norton Road, it burned the outbuildings on one coming out of Stourbridge, the sheds at the bottom of the garden and fences.”

Community members gathered at around 7pm on August 13 after it became clear the major incident was threatening their neighbourhood and organised a rota for people to patrol vulnerable areas.

Cllr Creed said: “The majority of people were straightforward ‘let’s get on with it, let’s put some water down’ they were fantastic.

“The police and fire service were great, the fire was moving towards Hagley and they had got problems up there as well so they were really stretched.”

At the height of the blaze 100 firefighters were on the scene, several houses were destroyed before the fire was brought under control.

Large parts of the area remained sealed off as crew worked to damp down hotspots.

A West Midlands Fire Services spokesperson said: “As we continue our work at the scene, we would like to thank everyone who has supported our response so far – both inside and outside WMFS.

“We have been truly taken aback by the community response, kindness and support in the Stourbridge area.”