Firefighters had to be called after an out-of-control blaze in a disused building caused smoke to engulf a children's playground.
Families enjoying a day out at Pennington Hall Park in Leigh today had to leave the area after black clouds of soot started to waft in from a fire on Kirkham Road.
The blaze is believed to have been started by a group of teenagers who were spotted coming and going from the building before the smoke began to spread.
Leonie Leigh was in the park with her young sister and niece, her mum and her grandma, when the fire started at around 2.30pm.
"All of a sudden we saw this massive cloud of black smoke coming over the park," she said.
"It was spitting and there was loads of black soot. When we looked it was coming from a disused building behind the park.
Leonie says she was told by firefighters that it was not the first time vandals had set the building alight but that anyone who approached the group of youngsters had been the subject of verbal abuse.
"The firefighters told us the building has been set on fire three times recently," she said.
"We saw a group of young people coming and going from the area where the fire was.
"My niece and my sister are only nine, they saw this group walking past and these youngsters started swearing at them just for looking at them.
"That's not what I was doing at that age. I'm only 22 now but what the teenagers are getting up to today is ridiculous."
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that two engines and a specialist unit were called out to the park.
In a statement, they said: At around 2:40 pm this afternoon, two fire engines from Atherton and Hindley fire stations and the Technical Response Unit from Leigh were called to reports of a fire at a derelict outbuilding on Kirkham Road, Leigh.
“Crews were quickly on the scene and extinguished the flames using one hose reel, a jet, and two breathing apparatus. Firefighters were at the scene for around an hour.”
