It could be a scene from a Hollywood disaster film. Silhouetted against an apocalyptic backdrop of smoke and flames a firefighter looks on as huge wildfire rages across Marsden Moor near the village of Delph in Saddleworth.
The blaze, which was started by a disposable barbecue, began at about 7pm on a red hot Easter Sunday one year ago today (April 21).
It burnt for four days. At its height 200 firefighters from Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, Cumbria, Merseyside and Tyne and Wear worked tirelessly to beat back the huge wall of flames which zig-zagged across the National Trust-owned moor.
When the fire was finally extinguished an area of protected moorland about the size of 1,000 football pitches was destroyed.