'Inconsiderate parking' at Chasewater delays firefighters tackling park blaze

A fire broke out on the grasslands near the railway at Chasewater

Firefighters have condemned ‘inconsiderate’ drivers who caused a 20-minute delay when battling a large fire.

Thick grey plumes of smoke were spotted billowing over the Chasewater after a grassland caught fire.

A team of seven firefighters tackled the blaze, which broke out near the railway station at around 6.45pm today (May 27).

While crews worked tirelessly to dampen the ferocious blaze, they were delayed by 20 minutes as they were blocked by a row of parked cars.

The Staffordshire Fire and Rescue team tweeted: “We currently have crews en-route to a large fire at Chase Water. Unfortunately, they are unable to gain access due to a large number of cars parked on the access roads.

“Inconsiderate parking has caused us delays of 20 minutes to actually started fighting the fire.”

Newsletters

• Sign up to our Birmingham newsletter
• Get our parenting newsletter
• Get our Black Country newsletter
• Sign up to our What's On newsletter

A spokesman for the service added: “We were called at 6.45pm to fire at Chasewater Country Park. The fire involved 50m x 100m of grassland by the railway.

“One crews from Cannock and an off-road vehicle were sent to the scene with a total of seven firefighters.

“The team are still trying to get the fire under control.”