FIRE crews are urging people not to burn rubbish off in their gardens after being called to a spate of such blazes on Friday night.

The move comes as water companies ask their tenants to stop any controlled burning.

Firefighters in Leigh attended five incidents of this nature on Friday between 7pm and 9pm.

In one of the incidents, an aerosol can exploded as crews turned up to the scene.

Watch manager Keiran Reid said that household rubbish should not be set alight, especially at night and he had attended incidents where the burning had got out of control and set fire to fences and sheds.

United Utilities has asked their tenants and land managers to halt controlled burning on their land until further notice.

The instruction to cease any form of burning comes following requests from emergency services as there are concerns it could increase the risk of unintentional wildfires, and that fumes from any form of fire may affect members of the public suffering from COVID-19.