Hectic night for fire crews

Hundreds of calls made

Fifty emergency calls were made to the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on Guy Fawkes Night in South Lanarkshire alone.

Operations control staff across Scotland handled more than 800 calls between 5pm and 10pm on Sunday, with firefighters responding to around 330 bonfires throughout the country – 19 of which were in South Lanarkshire.

The celebrations were yet again marred by a number of attacks on firefighters in various locations, with crews faced with missiles and fireworks being thrown at them on a reported 11 occasions country-wide.

In South Lanarkshire, one such incident took place – in the Rutherglen area – with an appliance coming under attack by a group of youths while attending a bonfire.

Assistant Chief Officer Lewis Ramsay, SFRS’S Director of Response and Resilience, said: “Attacks on emergency responders are completely unacceptable and I am sure the public would be outraged by incidents where their firefighters have been targeted while working to protect people and property.

“This type of behaviour not only prevents our crews from bringing any emergency to a safe and swift conclusion but it can impact on our emergency service colleagues including the police when they have to escort us at the scene. This cannot be condoned. The communities of Scotland are all fantastic and they appreciate greatly the work of the fire service, and we would urge the majority of law-abiding residents to alert the police to any such reckless activity.

“We will also work to identify those responsible and we will pass that intelligence to our police partners which can result in a variety of consequences - and potentially affect future employment prospects.”

He added: “Bonfire Night is typically the service’s busiest night of the year, but in addition to numerous bonfires firefighters continue to respond to the full range of emergencies we face on a daily basis.

“Our frontline crews and Operations Control personnel are extremely dedicated and I would like to pay tribute to their professionalism, skill and hard work which enabled them to help protect communities across the country.”

SFRS had appealed to the public to attend organised events rather than do-it-yourself fireworks displays or illegal bonfires.

Thousands of people descended on Strathclyde Park on Sunday night to watch the annual display that is jointly put on by North and South Lanarkshire Councils.

Hundreds more chose to avoid the traffic restrictions surrounding Strathclyde Park and viewed the display from Chatelherault Country Park.

Hamilton Accies also staged a fireworks display.

Bonfire Night is the service’s busiest night