Bolton council staff are joining forces with the police and fire service to mount Operation Bonfire Safety for the fourth year running.

The campaign, run by the Bonfire and Firework Safety Strategy Group, is aimed at ensuring that the bonfire night celebrations are as safe as possible.

They are driving home the potential dangers of fires and fireworks through a mixture of education, enforcement and publicity.

To date the operation has been very successful. Since its launch in 1991 the number of bonfire-related accidents have plummeted.

The campaign is aimed at both adults and children and fire brigade staff will be visiting scores of schools to emphasise the safety message and list the dos and don'ts of bonfire night.

Cllr Eric Johnson, chairman of Bolton's consumer and environment sub-committee, said: "The bonfire and firework safety campaign has been a real winner over the last few years.

"And the important thing is that it's successful at getting the message across about the potential dangers.

"We don't want to spoil anyone's fun but people need to be very careful and to stick to the rules about using fireworks and building and lighting bonfires.

"Most of it is common sense and with people's co-operation we can hopefully look forward to another relatively accident-free bonfire celebration."

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