THE OXFAM blaze was one of the biggest in Huddersfield for years.
And it came in the middle of a weekend which saw fire services stretched to the limit across West Yorkshire.
More than a dozen fire appliances were dispatched to Huddersfield on Saturday evening to help fight the Beck Road blaze.
Many others were also in action fighting a series of large moorland fires, which were still blazing yesterday, and dozens of grass fires.
Crews from West Yorkshire had also been sent into Lancashire to help tackle a major moorland blaze near Bacup.
In Huddersfield, the fire was captured by many Examiner readers with cameras and mobile phones.
They submitted pictures which showed the drama of the event and the huge pall of acrid black smoke which hung over the town centre for hours.
Last night, firefighters were continuing to tackle a moorland fire near Halifax which has been burning for three days.
Strong winds have been fanning the flames on moors above Cold Edge Road, Wainstalls, since Saturday, West Yorkshire Fire Service said.
At its height, 30 firefighters were involved in the operation to contain the blaze.
Twenty remained there yesterday as the fire continued to burn.
The cause of the fire has not yet been established, the fire service said.
A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokeswoman urged people visiting the moors to “use common sense” during the current dry spell in order to avoid starting fires by accident.
“We don’t want people going on to the moors and having barbecues”, she said.
“We were stretched to the limit on Sunday with more than 150 separate incidents of grass and moor fires right across the county.
“Because of the winds each time we’re called out we have to have three or four pumps at each incident.”
