Well-behaved in the north, but attacks in other Scottish areas

The north of Scotland recorded the smallest number of fire service call-outs across the country on Saturday night.

Official statistics from the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) showed 1,025 calls during an eight-hour period on November 5 in the country as a whole.

Teams in the north received 191 of these calls and attended 25 bonfires between 3.30pm and 11.30pm. There were no reports of crews being attacked.

Activity was higher in other regions however.

Operations control answered 582 calls for the west and attended 242 bonfires. In the east, 252 calls were received and 89 bonfires attended.

The figures also show there were three attacks on the crews in the west and two in the east.

It is understood there were no injuries reported from the firefighters.

Bonfire Night is typically one of the busiest nights of the year for firefighters, with a similar number of callouts made during the same time frame in 2021.

Assistant chief officer David Farries, director of service delivery for the SFRS, said: “It has been another busy and challenging evening for our crews and operations control staff and I thank them for their dedication.

“We are disappointed to report five attacks on our firefighters. In the run-up to Bonfire Night, we had spoken about this kind of unacceptable behaviour by a small minority which sadly happens year after year.

“Our staff should be able to carry out their role without being attacked and it is disappointing that people have tried to hurt firefighters and have damaged our appliances.

“Crews only attend bonfire-related incidents when people contact us about concerns over public safety and we extinguish fires that are unsafe.

“We put a huge amount of planning and preparation into this evening with local partners and other emergency services as we work together to protect communities, which is always our top priority.”