Bonfire Night success story for SFRS with no calls out for fire crews in West Lothian

West Lothian saw a 30 per cent drop in deliberate fires and a 45 per cent drop in deliberate rubbish blazes over the bonfire period last year compared to 2021.

Area Commander Kenny Barbour told West Lothian Council’s Community Safety Board that fire crews had not been called to any incidents on bonfire night.

He said: “It’s a great news story. I think we have seen the strength of community safety partnership in West Lothian.

“There was a 53 incident reduction in terms of our attendance at events from 2021 and if we look at a rough costing we have probably made a community saving there of £106,000.”

The number of deliberate fires over the bonfire period, October 15 to November 7, in 2017 was 75. That dropped to 62 in 2021 and 47 last year.

In a report to the board, the SFRS said that Fire Community Action Teams had returned to face to face engagement with school pupils following the pandemic.

Fire officers took their stay safe message to almost 6000 pupils at secondary school assemblies whilst SFRS operational crews delivered learning materials to P6 and P7 pupils.

The report said: “The presentations were also shared with all schools so that they could be delivered by teachers using the provided speakers notes if necessary. Positive feedback was received from schools, both on the content and delivery.”

Police Scotland and SFRS conducted joint talks to groups attending the West Lothian Youth Action Project (WLYAP) from schools across West Lothian to help reach those not fully engaging with mainstream education.

The fire service also worked with Police Scotland and community groups in the run up to and during the bonfire night period which the service categorises as to November 7.

Work was also carried out in liaison with council officers working for Trading Standards checking firework sales and with Neighbourhood Environment Teams (NETS), identifying and removing potentially dangerous accumulations of rubbish and hazardous materials.

Kenny added: “Between ourselves and partners, we engaged with almost 6000 school pupils. As we transitioned out of Covid I think we began to see the strength of face to face engagement.

“Certainly not one organisation or partner could do this on their own and I think the strength demonstrated across that has been fantastic.

“Media messaging has also played a significant part. I sometimes have a fear of using media messages but, on this occasion, it is evident that it was a great tool to utilise.”

The SFRS report concluded: “SFRS and Police Scotland carried out a joint patrol on November 5 to identify and assess bonfires to reduce the demand on front line appliances. Regular contact was made with Police Control and SFRS Control which enabled the joint patrol to respond quickly to and assess reports of bonfires which significantly reduced the demand on front line appliances.

“The SFRS and Police joint patrol were in regular contact with WLYAP and WLC Safer Neighbourhood Teams, sharing intelligence too.”