Fires across county revealed

LAST year’s hot dry summer may be behind a jump in the number of fires in Leicestershire.

Leicestershire Fire Service attended 2,568 fires in 2018/19, the highest number since 2011/12. The number of fires attended by crews rose by 13% in a year, up from 2,271 in 2017/18.

However, the most dramatic increases in the overall rise was for outdoor and secondary fires.

The Home Office, which publishes the figures has linked the increase in these types of fires to last year’s hot dry summer.

In Leicestershire, fire crews attended 1,263 secondary fires in 2018/19, a rise of 39% in a year. The number was up from 911 in 2017/18, and is the highest number since 2011/12.

There was also a big rise in other outdoor primary fires.

These are fires either in outdoor structures - such as postboxes, telephone boxes, bridges and tunnels - or outdoor fires that involve casualties or five or more pumping appliances attending.

There were 129 such incidents in Leicestershire in 2018/19, up 47% from 88 in 2017/18, and the highest number since 2009/10.

As well as this, fire crews attended 417 dwelling fires in 2018/19, down from 437 in 2017/18, and 260 fires in other buildings, up from 255.

The overall rise in the number of fires comes after years of falling funding that has meant cuts to staffing levels.

In Leicestershire, the number of full-time equivalent firefighters, including crew and watch managers, fell from 420 in 2011 to 324 in 2018.

Matt Wrack, Fire Brigades Union general secretary, said: “These latest figures confirm what firefighters are feeling on the ground – they are under increasing pressure, responding to more incidents with scarcer resources, as budgets and firefighter numbers continue to be cut. Shamefully, firefighters are being thanked for their efforts this year with yet another real-terms pay cut.

“We are deeply concerned that, after massive cuts to fire safety officers and years of fire safety deregulation, there has been a significant increase in fires in England.”