Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service has warned residents ahead of this year's Bonfire Night after crews tackled 935 fires started deliberately during last year's Bonfire Night period. The warning forms part of the service's annual #BangOutOfOrder campaign, which targets deliberate fire-setting, hoax calls and anti-social behaviour around Halloween and Bonfire Night.

A fire service spokesperson said last year's total was down by about a fifth on the previous year, but still represented a heavy burden on crews and communities. Around 200 of the 935 fires were classed as primary fires, meaning they posed a threat to people or property, rather than smaller outdoor fires. In Salford alone, firefighters faced 20 threats or assaults in 2025 under Operation Treacle, an 18 per cent rise on the previous year, alongside more than 1,000 firework-related anti-social behaviour incidents.

Fines and prison for fire-setting

The service stressed that deliberately starting a fire or making a hoax emergency call can lead to a heavy fine or up to six months in prison. Hoax calls and deliberate fires also divert crews from genuine emergencies, putting lives at risk elsewhere. The campaign is run with Greater Manchester Police, the combined authority and the city-region's ten councils, with extra patrols, checks on fireworks sellers and organised displays offered as safer alternatives.

Residents are urged to attend organised displays, to report unlit bonfires and piles of rubbish, and to call 999 only in a genuine emergency. Bonfire Night falls on 5 November, and fireworks legally went on sale in mid-October. The service's message is blunt: anti-social behaviour around the celebrations is, in its words, bang out of order, and it will not be tolerated.