TEENAGERS who fired shots at firefighters have been condemned for their stupidity.

Police were called to the scene on Lancaster Avenue on the Shakerley estate in Tyldesley shortly after 7.20pm last Wednesday following reports that a group of youths were firing shots at a fire engine as the crew dealt with a rubbish fire behind The Home Ground pub.

Detectives are keen to trace a group of four or five youths, aged around 15-years-old, who were seen close to pub around the time of the incident. Nobody was injured and no damage was caused although it was reported three gunshots hit the vehicle.

Furious Greater Manchester Fire Authority member Cllr Neil Hogg, who represents Tyldesley ward on Wigan Council has called on the community to help stamp out such mindless behaviour.

He said: "They quite openly fired on the crew. The community needs to understand that these people who were shooting at these firemen may one day themselves have to be dragged from a blazing home.

"This was outrageous behaviour."

Greater Manchester's Chief Fire Officer Barry Dixon underlined Cllr Hoggs concern when he said: "Any attack on a firefighter is totally unacceptable; however this particular episode is a sickening addition to the list of incidents our firefighters face whilst trying to protect the public.

"Our personnel should never be subjected to this type of behaviour and it only serves to emphasise the need for further legislation to protect firefighters and other emergency service workers."

This month the Authority revealed that closed circuit cameras are to be fitted to four fire engines in Greater Manchester, on a trial basis, in a bid to reduce attacks on fire-fighters.

The locations have been chosen based on statistical evidence which highlights them as "hot-spots" for these types of attack.

This year there have been 164 reported attacks on firefighters, ranging from verbal abuse, stones and bricks being thrown to physical assault.

The high quality fixed mounted cameras will be switched on at the discretion of the Officer in Charge of the fire engine and used to capture images of any would be attackers. Any footage captured will be downloaded from the camera's hard drive and passed to the police to assist in the prosecution of offenders.

West Midlands Fire and Rescue Service recently installed similar equipment on their fire engines and experienced a 47% reduction in attacks during the first 12 months that they were fitted. The cameras also contributed to the successful conviction of one attacker who was subsequently jailed for 6 months.

Assistant County Fire Officer for Operations, Kieran Nolan said: "It is a sad fact that our firefighters are currently being attacked on average once every two days.

"These attacks are totally unacceptable and the safety of our crews is of paramount importance.

"Our aim is to use the cameras as a deterrent but where necessary any video evidence of an attack will be used to assist the police in potential prosecutions."