Firefighters kept busy as series of blazes hit the region
A man was pulled from his burning flat, two dogs and a budgie had to be rescued and 60 tons of rubbish went up in flames during a string of fires across the region.
The animals were saved from a house in Gornal after arsonists hit a nearby caravan. Fire crews from Dudley were called to Grove Road at 7.15pm on Saturday.
A blaze at a scrapyard sent a 100ft plume of smoke drifting across an industrial estate in Walsall, sparking a flurry of calls to the 999 emergency service yesterday.
Fire crews found a 60-ton pile of waste materials alight at Viking Skips in Leamore Lane, Willenhall. Around 25 firefighters battled for four hours to control the flames.
Firefighters were also cal-led to a severe blaze involving a 20-ton stack of wooden waste materials in Walsall. Crews converged on open ground in Cemetery Road, Darlaston, just after 1pm yesterday.
An elderly couple fled when sparks from a brazier in their back garden set light to their shed. The pair had been burning rubbish in Weston Street, Palfrey, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a man was pulled unconscious from his home in Stourport and was taken to hospital suffering with smoke inhalation. Neighbours tried to break down the door of the flat on Hermitage Way to rescue him but fire officers pulled him free on Saturday.
A stack of tyres also went up in smoke in a suspected arson at a recycling plant in Walsall. Around 30 tyres were set alight on wasteground beside the tyre disposal firm in Bull Street, Darlaston, on Saturday.
Meanwhile, at Alton Towers in Staffordshire, fire crews were called to put out embers after a firework landed on the roof of a building during Saturday's fireworks event.
