Nottinghamshire fire crews spent 598 hours fighting deliberate fires in 2020

Fire crews have revealed how many hours they have spent fighting deliberate fires over the past five months.

Firefighters in Nottinghamshire have spent a total of 598 hours so far this year fighting fires that have been started deliberately.

In the past month alone, crews across the county have attended 170 secondary fires, with a marked increase in incidents being seen in both Newark and Sherwood and Mansfield.

Crews from Edwinstowe and Tuxford attended several trees on fire with grass and undergrowth on May 27 at 11.50pm in Ollerton Pit Woods, this is one out of 18 fires that Edwinstowe have attended just this month.

The deliberate fire setting doesn’t stop there; recently there have been many incidents in Harworth with fly-tipping being set alight.

Deliberate fires on average cost the service approximately £300 per call out to an incident.

From January to May 2020 in Harworth this would have cost the Service approximately £5100.

The service also attended a fire on May 23 at 11.18am caused by a disposable BBQ not being extinguished properly.

Paul Gair, district prevention manager at Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “As the weather continues to get warmer, and people are starting to go out and about in their local area a bit more freely, we ask you to remain vigilant and cautious when out in the local parks or countryside.

“NFRS has a zero tolerance approach to deliberate fires as it puts the community at risk.

“We are working closely with the Police and partners to reduce the deliberate fires within Nottinghamshire.

"We ask you all to be vigilant when out on walks and to report any deliberate fire setting to the police through 101.”

Chief Inspector Elizabeth Rogers, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “Starting deliberate fires risks lives - those of the individuals involved, our communities and our colleagues. This is so completely unacceptable and takes vital resources away from real emergencies.

“We will continue to work with our colleagues in the fire service to tackle this issue and will take robust action against anyone found to be involved.

"We also work jointly with Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service on education and diverting people away from such pointless and harmful acts.

“If you do see anything suspicious while out and about, please report it to us on 101.”