Grass fire yobs wreak havoc with six deliberate blazes a day
A rise in yobs starting grass fires – some spreading to buildings – is causing chaos with crews called out to nearly six a day.
In June and May alone there were 348 call-outs – a 43 per cent increase on the 243 in the same two months last year.
One recent fire saw a building at Rugeley School for children with autism burned to the ground.
And fire service chiefs are expecting the situation to get even worse now the schools have broken up for the summer.
Director of Prevent and Protect at Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service Glynn Luznyj added: “We’ve already seen a large increase in deliberate outdoor fires this year and the risk is even higher now we have entered the summer holidays as we usually see a spike in the number of calls to these fires.”
Now, in an unorthodox bid to drive down incidents Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service has released a rap video to help spread their campaign message that ‘Flames Aren’t Games’.
WATCH the video here:
Mr Luznyj said: “We are hoping that through this video we can reach the masses and show young people how dangerous it is to set a fire.”
“We are urging people to share the video in order for it to reach as many people as possible.
“Please show it your children, friends and students.
“We hope that by using an eye-catching video the message will be clear and strong, and hopefully it will make those who consider flames as games think twice.”
Deliberate outdoor fires include arson attacks and those started with harmless intentions like garden fires but which got out of control and required firefighters to extinguish.
There have been 808 incidents between January 1 and June 30 this year – nearly a third more than the 612 in the same period last year.
The figures are not yet available for July with the month only just finished, but one incident saw firefighters called to Rugeley School on Blithbury Road on Saturday, July 15. A disused building was well alight at the time firefighters arrived and was left completely destroyed.
Mr Luznyj added: “We’ve already seen a large increase in deliberate outdoor fires this year and the risk is even higher now we have entered the summer holidays as we usually see a spike in the number of calls to these fires.
“The video is just the start of our summer long campaign which also involves us supporting diversionary activities around the county in the hope of deterring young people from setting fires by keeping them busy and engaged.”
SFRS has with young people from in the Prince’s Trust programme to understand why people start fires. They have collaborated with songwriter Gary Oliver from The Urban Arts Centre and Jordan Lynam, an aspiring artist, to record the campaign video.
