PROACTIVE work to educate youths about the dangers of deliberate fires appears to be bearing fruit in Annandale and Eskdale.
Firefighters have visited various high schools in the district to share information around fire-setting, derelict buildings, and water safety.
Over the past year, there has been a 15 per cent reduction in the number of deliberate fires.
This is confirmed in the fire service operations annual report for April 2023-March 2024, which will be presented at Annandale and Eskdale area committee next week,
Colin Wallace, Annandale and Eskdale district commander, writes: “It is pleasing to report that deliberate fire setting has seen a reduction of 15 per cent across Annandale and Eskdale with crews attending a total of 28 deliberate fires.
“This decrease is testament to the engagement work carried out in the community by the community action team and local crews.
“Input on the dangers of deliberate fires was delivered at Langholm and Lockerbie Academy schools prior to the holidays with 128 and 423 people attending respectively.
“Subjects such as water safety, dangers of deliberate fires and derelict buildings were covered.
“Information was also shared with Annan and Moffat Academy staff for distribution to all students and parents.”
He reveals that in Annandale and Eskdale 72 per cent of all deliberate fires were classed as secondary, with the remainder consisting of outdoor buildings, vehicles and grassland.
The fire chief also describes a reduction in nearly all types of incidents over the past year as “very encouraging”.
The report adds: “Overall, there has been a 17 per cent reduction on the total number of incidents reported within the Annandale and Eskdale district, with reductions in all special services and false alarms, by 14 and 23 per cent respectively.
“There was a very slight increase in non-domestic fires, which rose from 12 to 14 incidents, involving a variety of property categories including four garden sheds.
“It is very pleasing to note there has been a substantial decrease in the number of fire casualties from 2022-23 within the district with no fatal fire fatalities and the number of non-fatal fire fatalities falling by 40 per cent.”
Of the two accidental house fires in Annandale and Eskdale last year, the householders suffered minor injuries: one in Annan involved a pan with cooking oil going on fire, the other in Moffat was also a kitchen fire.
The report continues: “Sadly, firefighters have attended three incidents with fatalities involved, including a road traffic collision on the A75 Annan bypass involving two fatalities, and a fatality on the railway line at an incident near Kettleholm.
“There was another fatality at an incident in Langholm where SFRS crews attended to assist ambulance colleagues as medical first responders.”
