Youths blamed for grass fires at former quarry in Rubery as homes evacuated

A fire broke out in a former quarry off Cock Hill Lane in Rubery around 8pm on 9 August. The fire was deliberatly started by youths and threatened homes in the area, the West Midlands Fire Service said. The incident has now been closed with no-one injured.

The Fire Control team received over 60 calls about the fire. Initially, seven fire crews were mobilised at the height of the incident, which involved a 200m x 200m area of grass, trees and gorse on fire.

Several residents on Chaddersley Close and Brookdale Close reported the fire was getting close to their homes and fire crews were dispatched. The residents were temporarily evacuated while fire crews worked to stop the fire spread.

After the fire crews stopped the spread, residents returned shortly afterwards. A total of six main jets, three hose reel jets and beaters were used to tackle the blaze, which crews confirmed was started deliberately by youths seen in the area. They also used drones to locate hot spots. The bulk of the firefighters left the scene just after midnight.

At 10.30AM on 10 August, fire crews attended the quarry again. They identified further hotspots and smouldering areas and crews extinguished these using a main jet.

Six hours earlier, they revisited the area after leaving at midnight to check for hotspots. They identified several areas using a thermal image camera and damped those down. In total, 26 firefighters attended to this incident.

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