FIREFIGHTERS have been pelted with bricks and stones in Atherton and Hindley in attacks against fire crews during the last few months.

A firefighter stationed at Hindley was taken to hospital two months ago when he was hit by a brick while fighting a house blaze in Platt Bridge.

And in Atherton the number of incidents committed against fire crews has risen compared with four years ago.

But fire chiefs say the level of violence and abuse against firefighters in Leigh, Atherton and Hindley is much lower compared with other parts of Greater Manchester.

Station Officer Colin Waite, of Atherton fire station, said: "From time to time we get serious incidents committed against fire crews. It's normally youths who are congregated in larger groups who are responsible. My officers are trained to deal with the public and they try and diffuse those kind of situations. We never tell them to retaliate or cause an argument with them."

SO Waite said last year they had four recorded incidents of attacks against fire crews, which compared with three in 2003 and one in 2002.

He said there had been two attacks this year.

A spokesman for Hindley fire station, said: "It's not been so bad in Hindley except for the serious incident we had in Platt Bridge a couple of months ago. It's difficult for firefighters because they have to keep an eye on the fire, an eye on what's going around us and an eye on our fire engine."

A spokesman for Leigh fire station, said: "We don't tend to have much problems with attacks against firefighters in the Leigh area."

A national report by the Fire Brigades Union claims there are 40 attacks on UK fire crews every week.

They say in some parts of the country, fire crews are served a daily diet of bricks, bottles and missiles. And Union chiefs claimed incidents were not being reported - and the true number of attacks could be three times higher than the official statistics.

They claimed in Greater Manchester the number of incident was 15 times higher than the official figure.

FBU general secretary Andy Gilchrist, said: "These attacks are inexcusable and must not be tolerated. It can never be part of anyone's job to get a brick or bottle in the head or to be spat at.

"The causes appear complex and we need more than knee-jerk reaction headlines calling for crackdowns. Many attacks are in deprived areas with poor youth facilities and poor housing, where bored young people turn to drugs and alcohol.

"But they happen in many other types of areas which are neither poor nor deprived. There is no quick-fix solution but we need to start with a properly resourced, national strategy rather than it being left to cash-strapped local fire services."