Arson takes up 4,000 fire-fighting hours in ONE YEAR
Fire crews spent more than 4,000 hours dealing with deliberately lit blazes across the West Midlands in one year, new figures have revealed.
Out of the arson fires over 2015, 143 were at derelict buildings – a third of which were in Sandwell.
There was also 696 vehicle fires in the region, 2,132 deliberate rubbish fires and 1,184 deliberate grassland fires.
A statement from the service said: "Arson hurts everybody, needlessly risking the lives of firefighters, costing millions of pounds in damage to property and ruining the environment.
"The majority of arson incidents can be prevented by improving safety and security, which need not cost a lot.
"In 2015 West Midlands Fire Service spent 4000 hours at arson incidents. This is valuable time our fire engines aren't available for life-threatening incidents."
The fire service offers advice on what to do if people suspect arson or flytipping and how to report it to the correct authorities.
Arsonists have struck on a number of occasions in the Black Country this month alone.
Earlier this month arsonists targeted a former football ground in Darlaston – just months after the main stand was set alight in another suspected arson attack.
Ten firefighters were called to the scene of the blaze at the site of the former Darlaston Town Football Club, in Slater Street. A mound of rubbish in the changing rooms had been set on fire causing smoke to fill the room.
The ground was first a victim of suspected arson when the main stand was set alight in late October last year. It took 15 firefighters an hour-and-a-half to put out the blaze and secure the area in what was described as 'a severe fire'.
Meanwhile, a moped was also destroyed in a suspected arson attack in Bilston.
West Midlands Fire Service were called to an alleyway adjacent to Vernon Road after the vehicle had gone up in flames.
And a derelict factory in Willenhall was also hit.
Fire crews were called to the former Mal Pressing Ltd in Stringes Lane after a fire broke out at the site, nearly a year after a previous arson attack. Last March, around 50 per cent of the building, which has become a magnet for vandalism, was damaged in an arson attack.
And last month fire bosses confirmed that a blaze that ripped through a former locks factory in Willenhall was being treated as suspected arson.
Around 60 firefighters tackled the huge blaze at the derelict Legge Locks factory in Stafford Street, on February 6.
