LISTEN: Deliberate fire incidents down in Moray
Moray has seen dramatic reductions in fire-related casualties, deliberate fires, accidental house fires and serious road traffic collisions.
Moray has seen dramatic reductions in fire-related casualties, deliberate fires, accidental house fires and serious road traffic collisions.
Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) personnel also delivered a massive increase in the number of home fire safety visits and the Local Senior Officer (LSO) for Moray and Aberdeenshire praised his firefighters and their partner agencies for their efforts to protect the public.
LSO David Rout confirmed work would continue to build on and entrench the success throughout the year ahead.
After delivering his annual report to members of the council’s police and fire services committee, he said: “I am delighted by the excellent achievements highlighted in this report.
“Driving down the number of fires and the casualties they cause is always a challenge but we are seeing strong downward trends thanks to the determination and professionalism of both our officers and colleagues in other agencies.”
He continued: “A great example of these strong partnerships paying off is in the delivery of home fire safety visits.
“Over the past year firefighters delivered a 32 per cent increase in the number we have carried out and the vast majority of these were targeted to protect people who are most vulnerable to fire or harm in the home.
“This reflects both firefighters’ work to reach those who need our help most and the excellent support we receive from housing and social care professionals.”
Group Manager David Meldrum from Scottish Fire and Rescue has been speaking to MFR News:
The number of deliberate fires in Moray during the 2015/16 financial year was 21 per cent below the average for the previous three years while accidental house fires also fell by over a fifth, from 59 to 47.
It is the second successive year in which SFRS has achieved five-year lows in both types of incident.
Fire-related casualties fell by more than two-fifths as the number of home fire safety visits increased by a third, demonstrating the value of crews being put in touch with potentially vulnerable members of the community.
SFRS crews visited 917 homes in Moray during the 12 months – up 286 from the 631 carried out three years previous.