Teesside remains one of the country’s arson hotspots, new figures show.
Government statistics for April 2013 to March 2014 show a 41.5% rise in the number of fires in Cleveland - one of the biggest rises in Britain - from 2,634 to 3,728.
Of those, 616 were “primary” fires - blazes in buildings, vehicles, involving casualties or rescues or attended by five or more fire appliances. And with 43.5% of those started deliberately, it gives Cleveland the highest percentage in the country.
Cleveland saw a 54.7% rise, from 1,998 to 3,091, in the number of “secondary” fires - the majority of outdoor blazes, usually involving grassland and refuse fires. But again, the “deliberately set” percentage, up 55.8% year on year, is one of Britain’s highest.
But while Cleveland Fire Brigade’s director of community protection, Phil Lancaster, admits there is a problem with deliberately set fires, he says there are explanations for - and optimism behind - the headline figures.
He said: “We do have a problem with deliberate fire starting, but we’ve been running an educational campaign, Enough is Enough, for two years and it has had a major impact.
“We do lots of work with children and young people because they tend to be the key group who start deliberate fires.
“And local people can do a lot to help us stop these fires by reporting them through Crimestoppers.”
“It is a concern, but it’s all about education.”
Mr Lancaster said Teesside University was doing a study “on why people think it’s acceptable to start fires.”
He added: “The results are due hopefully by the autumn and we will be interested to see what comes out of that research. But it used to be the case we had 90% deliberate starts - it was that serious a problem, but things have improved significantly.”
Mr Lancaster said much of the rise in total fires was due to the contrast between the bad weather of 2012-13 and the dry summer of last year. He said: “Comparing year on year, it’s very difficult if we have two extreme years. In the first three months of this year, for example, we’ve got back to where we were and numbers have come down significantly. And our trend lines, which are what we focus on, are down on all the major indicators we measure.
“We’ve also seen a significant reduction in fires in the home, where people are in greatest danger. The 2013-14 period was the lowest year we’ve ever had - 145 accidentally started fires in the home, which is an incredibly low number - the lowest, per head of population, of any brigade. Much of that is down to us going into people’s homes, giving life-saving advice and fitting fire alarms.”
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