TEN part-time Horwich firefighters were arrested in a dawn swoop today by police probing allegations that they made hoax calls and started fires to increase their wages.

The retained firemen - all based at the Chorley New Road station - were arrested at 7am in raids on their homes.

They were still being quizzed this lunchtime by detectives at Bolton Central, Astley Bridge, Salford and Bury police stations.

The co-ordinated police swoop followed a year-long investigation into allegations that part-time firemen, based at Horwich Fire Station, deliberately made hoax calls to receive extra £10 call-out payments on top of their £1,772 a year retainer.

The allegations are understood to span several years. Detectives were called in to investigate the allegations last October by Bolton's divisional fire commander.

The police investigation has been led by the head of Bolton CID, Det Supt Mick Gorrill.

The probe was mounted after months of unrest at Horwich Fire Station over the way it is manned.

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The station is staffed by both full-time and part-time firefighters. Full-time officers work during the day and are called out when needed at night. In addition the retained firefighters are on call in the evenings and cover at weekends.

Fire Brigade Union leaders believe the station, which usually deals with just under 900 calls a year, should have more full-time firefighters.

Twelve months ago four firefighters at Horwich submitted written complaints to their bosses saying morale at Horwich was "rock bottom" and claimed manning levels were being kept deliberately low.

In March, five part-time and one full-time firefighters were arrested and quizzed by detectives before being released on bail. All six were then suspended by the Greater Manchester Fire Service pending the outcome of the police investigation, which was codenamed Operation Fenwick.

The raids today were carried out by uniformed officers based in Bolton and surrounding towns.

Throughout the year-long investigation, detectives based at Horwich and Astley Bridge police stations interviewed a large number of firemen and scrutinised scores of fire call outs by officers based at Horwich. Several moorlands fires in the summer of 1998 formed a key part of the police investigation.

Today, Fire Brigade Union boss Bob Pounder refused to comment in detail about the arrests, after the BEN broke news of the developments to him.

He added: "Where it's appropriate the FBU may offer support, but 'where it's appropriate' is the key phrase."

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