West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS) have confirmed the fire at the former quarry in Rubery was started deliberately.
WMFS received over 60 calls to reports of a fire in a former quarry off Cock Hill Lane in Rubery around 8 pm on 9th August.
Seven fire crews were mobilised at the height of the incident, which involved a 200m x 200m area of grass, trees and gorse on fire.
Several residents on Chaddersley Close and Brookdale Close reported the fire was getting close to their homes and fire crews were dispatched to protect the properties.
The homes were temporarily evacuated while fire crews worked to stop the fire spread, which they were able to do successfully with no damage caused to the properties. The residents were able to return shortly afterwards.
A spokesperson for WMFS said: “A total of 6 main jets, 3 hose reel jets and beaters were used to tackle the blaze, which our crews confirmed was started deliberately by youths seen in the area.
“One of our drones was also brought into use to aid our crews in locating hot spots.
“The bulk of our firefighters left the scene just after midnight.
“Crews did a revisit (10th Aug) to the scene to check for hotspots.
“Several areas were identified using a thermal image camera and these were damped down.”
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