AMONG the busiest men in Redditch during the Easter holidays were Redditch firemen, who answered 17 calls in six days.

The spate of outbreaks started at midday on Thursday and ended with a chimney fire on Wednesday morning.

Nine of the calls were to grass fires. The biggest of these was at Barkers Lane, Wythall, on Tuesday when five acres of undergrowth and hedgerow were destroyed.

Three acres of grass on Redditch Golf Course were burned on Monday. Last month the brigade attended 29 fires in the Redditch area.