South Yorkshire firefighters battling 'extreme pressure' this summer
They're bringing in extra control staff to deal with demand
Last updated 30th Jul 2018
South Yorkshire Fire are bringing in extra control staff to cope with the "extreme pressure" of their busiest summer for years.
Stats shown to Hallam reveal the number of fires in our county since mid June has trebled compared with the same period last year.
And there's no let up - forecasters are predicting another dry week ahead.
Head of Civil protection at South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Andy Hayter says they've been stretched:
"It's got exponentially more busy as we've gone on over the last couple of weeks. On one day we had upwards of 700 calls in a 24 hour period. This is obviously having a big impact on the draw on our resources so the fire engines are out a lot and we're getting quite a lot of fire engines out at the same time, as well as normal business.
"It's not just our county - all fire services are feeling this pressure. And ordinarily when we're busy we do call upon other fire services to co-respond with us. That's very difficult to do when everybody's busy. It's extremely pressurised, especially for our fantastic staff in control who are constantly answering call after call after call."
Three quarters of the blazes firefighters are tackling are started deliberately.
Andy says that's really frustrating:
"If people have got concerns about people intentionally setting fires they need to report that to the police through 101. It's extremely frustrating because it's putting people's lives at risk. It's reducing our impact and our ability to respond as quickly as normal."
South Yorkshire Fire say the rain over the weekend will have done little to reduce their workload - and they're expecting hot dry weather until Septemeber.
Andy has this advice for people for the rest of the summer:
"Don't use barbeques out in the countryside - keep them at home. And if you are using them, keeping them away from properties, particularly your house. We strongly recommend you don't have bonfires. But if you do ned to have a bonfire, you keep it away from property and long grass and you do have means to extinguish the fire when you've started it."