By Charlotte Tonry: Fire crews have finished extinguishing wildfires in south Staffordshire, which left 123 acres of land damaged.

The fire, which took a week to bring under control, is now under investigation. Police are treating it as suspicious.

By Charlotte Tonry: Firefighters have warned that budget cuts may limit the way they are able to deal with forest fires in the future.

Kinver in Staffordshire has been among a number of areas of the UK that have been hit by wildfires in recent weeks.

The Fire Brigade Union (FBU) has warned that such blazes could put real pressure on firefighters once the cuts begin to bite.

By Sandy Wagg & Tom Shingler: A Staffordshire man whose mother and brother died in a hotel fire in Newquay has criticised the outcome of the court case.

John Hughes, whose mother Monica and brother Peter died along with Joan Harper at the Penhallow Hotel in August 2007, has described the £80,000 court-imposed fine as “ridiculous” and an “offence to justice”.

He said: “The inquest’s open verdict and the court’s decision on Thursday have let us down as the hotel was in breach of the fire regulations.

By Charlotte Tonry: Firefighters have spent a third night tackling woodland fires in Staffordshire.

Twenty fire engines from across the region have attended the blaze around the Kinver area, in South Staffordshire, since it began on Monday evening (May 2).

A spokesman from Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “A high volume pump has been used to extract water from the nearby canal and Land Rovers from Cannock and Leek have been used to gain access to more difficult to reach areas.”

By Rachel Stretton: A barn fire that killed two horses in the Staffordshire Moorlands was started accidentally.

The fire, at Sycamore Farm, Ramshorn, raged for more than five hours yesterday (May 2).

Crews from Cheadle, Ipstones and Leek attended after being called out at 2.30pm.

By Stacey Houldsworth: Fifteen fire engines have been called to tackle a blaze that engulfed two miles of heathland in Staffordshire.

Crews from across the county were called to Ramshaw Rocks in Upper Hulme at 5pm yesterday (April 10).

A police helicopter was also brought in to make sure the fire – which is believed to have been started accidentally by a smoker – didn’t spread to residential properties.

By Kieran Jones: Firefighters have warned that two deliberate fires in Meir have put lives at risk.

Crews were called to a blaze in an outhouse on Landsbury Grove at 10.30pm yesterday (April 10).

An investigation by firefighters found it was the second deliberate blaze in 24 hours.

By Chris Edwards & Rik Packer: Construction of Hanley’s new £6million fire station is “ahead of target”.

The project which was scheduled for completion on July 15 could now be ready as early as the end of June.

The new site boasts a number of modern training facilities, such as a foam pit, a fire house and – once the temporary building is demolished – a training area for road traffic incidents.

By Lee Kettle: An elderly woman was taken to hospital after a fire in Blurton.

The 93-year-old suffered smoke inhalation after a plastic tray, which had been left on the cooker, caught fire and filled the house on Langland Drive at 2.15pm yesterday (March 28).

Station manager Andy Leedham said: “We would urge people to never store anything on top of a cooker as it does not take long for fires to start.”

By Kirsty Hewson: Staffordshire fire chiefs say a new campaign called ‘Stand by your Pan’ was launched after a shocking rise in cooking-related house fires.

The county’s fire crews were called to 1,057 house fires between April and December 2010 – with a staggering 52% of those caused by cooking.