Fire chief warns abuse ‘will not be tolerated’

A fire service chief has warned attacks on firefighters during Bonfire season will not be tolerated, saying the abuse experienced last year “beggars belief” .

Assistant chief officer (ACO) Lewis Ramsay hit out after crews were targeted on November 5 – the service’s busiest night of the year.

Staff even needed police protection when attending to unorganised bonfires in Edinburgh.

Mr Ramsay said: “It beggars belief when I hear that they have either been physically assaulted or verbally abused when trying to assist their communities.

“But be left in absolutely no doubt that it is often down to a very small minority of individuals within those communities.

“I would like to take this opportunity to stress once again that this will not be tolerated because our firefighters absolutely do not deserve to be met with such behaviour.”

Latest stats from 2016-17 show 61 firefighters were involved in incidents where they were physically or verbally abused or had objects thrown at the fire engines, causing injuries to seven staff.

Mr Ramsay added: “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.

“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.”