By Firefighters in Doncaster tackle five ‘deliberate’ blazes in one day
South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue crews were called to six separate incidents in Doncaster on Monday and overnight.
Five of these are thought to have been deliberate, according to the organisation.
The busy bank holiday followed a relatively quiet weekend.
Firefighters in Thorne were called out to a bicycle and rubbish fire at around 7.20pm on Monday.
The incident on Station Road in Stainforth is believed to have been started deliberately.
Shortly after, at 8pm, they attended another deliberate rubbish fire at Station Road in Dunscroft,
This was followed by another at 10.30pm on Stockbridge Lane, Bentley.
Three crews from Doncaster and Adwick left the scene at 11.20pm.
Meanwhile, fire crews attended two deliberate woodland fires involving grassland on Wheatley Hall Road, and on Browning Avenue, Balby.
The news comes just weeks after the launch of a new dedicated arson ‘hot-line’, known as FireStoppers.
The new fire service was launched in response to the 3900 deliberate fire incidents South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue dealt with last year.
Doncaster was the worst hit area with 1116 cases.
Matt Gillatt, Deputy Head of the Joint Police and Fire Community Safety Team, said:
“We’ve made great strides in terms of reducing house fires over the last 10 years, but nearly 4000 deliberate fires in one year is 4000 too many.
“We want to show people that we are taking this issue seriously and we also felt we needed to provide people a safe, anonymous route to report details of arson attacks to us.
“Other fire services across the country have successfully reduced deliberate fire setting by up to 20 percent through this service, and we’re hoping it will have a positive impact here.
“Our ask of the public is simple – if you know anything about deliberate fire-setting in your area then please report it via the FireStoppers line and help us crack down on these fires.”
Suspected cases of arson can be reported via the dedicated phone number, 0800 169 5558, or online.
All details will be dealt with anonymously and will form part of fire and police investigations.
Contact Gi Doncaster
Email us: news@gi-media.co.uk
Follows us on Facebook for all the latest local stories, breaking news and to join the conversation
