Portable pitch tackles arson attacks

A £3,000 portable sports pitch is being rolled out to areas targeted by arsonists in Staffordshire to try to tackle soaring numbers of attacks.

Fire chiefs have resorted to the so-called 'street stadia' as latest figures reveal a 115 per cent increase in blazes in the open in the county in the past year. Crews were called to 172 grass fires between October and December – up from 80 for the same period in 2010.

Risk assessment teams at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue hope the pitch – roughly the size of a tennis court, with net walls – will prevent a repeat of last Easter, when more than 100 fires were deliberately set in Cannock Chase. Responding to those calls alone cost £63,000 and bosses say the latest move is an investment.

An arena, which can be laid and used by youngsters for football, volleyball and dodgeball, is touring the district. If successful, the pilot could be rolled out regularly.

It has cost the fire authority £3,000 for the court for around a month, from March 17 to April 14.

A report to the fire authority revealed the plans. It states: "Arrangements are under way for a pilot project to use a mobile street stadium to engage with young people in Huntington and Hednesford during the Easter holidays.

It is an area which last year saw significant anti-social behaviour, including some 126 fires deliberately set, risking lives, wasting resources and damaging the environment within the popular Cannock Chase area."

And fire service spokeswoman Sarah Collis said today: "A useful statistic from StreetStadia from previous uses is that anti-social behaviour fell by 30 per cent within a half-mile radius while it was available for use.

"For the same period that we have the StreetStadia for this year, the incidents we attended last year cost the service approximately £63,000 so we see this as an investment."