South Yorkshire Fire making progess in reducing attacks on crews
As we continue our special reports, South Yorkshire Fire say they've seen a big fall in the number of attacks on their staff
After we revealed the shocking threat of attacks police and ambulance staff face every day in South Yorkshire, our fire service say they're making real progress in keeping their staff safe.
In the last part of our special investigation into the abuse emergency services have to endure, we can reveal there's been a big fall in the number of incidents involving firefighters.
Ten years ago South Yorkshire Fire were seeing over 100 attacks every year but in 2016 there were just 31.
Steve Helps - from South Yorkshire Fire - says they've made real progress but that number's still too high:
"Firefighting is inherently a dangerous role at best - we're entering buildings which are extremely hazardous let alone while having to think about watching our backs while people think it's appropriate to throw missiles, throw rocks at us or abuse us in any other any really.
"They have reduced significantly over time but there are still too many. They vary from physically attacks - we're actually having things thrown at the side of fire engines - certainly around bonfire time, we've seen fire crews under attack from gangs and it's completely and utterly unacceptable."
Our exclusive figures show the number of attacks on firefighters in South Yorkshire has reduced by over a third in the last five years.
Steve says they've worked really hard to reduce the number of firefighters being targetted:
"We started a schools education programme fifteen years ago and we believe that has significantly changed the perception people have of our fire crews. We've seen a decrease as a result of that. And also, all of our fire appliances are now fitted with CCTV. We are seeing a decrease but it's still unacceptable that we're seeing one attack, let along the 31 that happened in 2016.
"Our fire crews live and work within the communities they serve. They want to help people - that's the nature of their role. We carry out a very extensive role - from assisting our partners in the police and ambulance service, and our traditional role as firefighters. The last thing we'd expect is to come to work and be attacked."