Manchester firefighters were attacked as they kept the city safe on Bonfire Night

Manchester firefighter crews were attacked as they kept the city safe on Bonfire Night

FIREFIGHTERS and various different fire crews across Manchester have been attacked over the Bonfire Night weekend.

The Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service had one of their busiest weekends of the year and worked hard to attend to all call outs.

Although, they did not expect to be attacked whilst on duty, as they expressed their shock on Twitter last night.

Between Saturday afternoon and Monday morning, Manchester firefighters attended to around 340 fire-related incidents and on Sunday 5th November, over half of the service’s total resources were deployed due the high volume of calls.

As fire crews attended to incidents on Bonfire Night, there were attacks by fireworks and bricks by unknown culprits.

Thanks for following tonight – a busy and disappointing evening where our crew came under fire themselves, attacked by fireworks and bricks!

— Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (@manchesterfire) November 5, 2017

A spokesperson for the fire service said on Facebook: “Busy Bonfire Night! Thanks to everyone who enjoyed it and attended an organised display. To those of you who pelted our firefighters with fireworks and bricks – not so much! You should be ashamed.”

The Salford fire crew were also attacked whilst on duty, as their fire engine was hit by glass bottles and fireworks as they attended to an incident on Saturday night. The fire service expressed their disappointment in the tweet below.

So sad our crews have been attacked tonight ? Glass bottles thrown at Salford fire engine & fireworks thrown at FFs in Trafford #Bonfire2017

— Greater Manchester Fire & Rescue Service (@manchesterfire) November 4, 2017

Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, joined the Bolton fire crew on Sunday evening to hear about the reality on the front line and to thank the fire services for their work.

He experienced an attack on the fire service first hand and tweeted his reaction.

Thanks to brilliant @manchesterfire Bolton team for letting me spend time with them tonight. Bit of a shock to see a firework thrown at us. pic.twitter.com/6vsPbMQl66

— Andy Burnham (@AndyBurnhamGM) November 5, 2017

Many people expressed their anger at the attacks on fire crews, the service assured the public that their fire engines were fitted with cameras and any footage capturing the incidents would be sent to Greater Manchester Police for investigation.

The GMFRS released the video below in October to promote awareness of attacks on firefighters.