Northamptonshire Fire Service joins the FireStoppers team

Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) has joined forces with Crimestoppers to launch a new service in the county for people to report information about deliberate fires anonymously.

The service, FireStoppers, in use since 2019 with three Fire and Rescue Services in the North East of England, has been jointly funded in Northamptonshire by NFRS, Northamptonshire Police and the Northamptonshire Police, Fire and Crime Commissioner.

It allows people to provide information via the telephone or online, without having to provide their name or other contact details, so that the emergency services can take appropriate action.

NFRS dealt with 714 deliberate fires across the county between April 2019 and April 2020, and 362 in just the six months up to October 2020.

The Arson Task Force works as part of the county’s Fire and Rescue Service to reduce deliberate fires in Northamptonshire, by identifying and responding to high-risk individuals and communities.
 

“A large proportion of deliberate fires do not often involve a victim; examples include setting discarded rubbish alight, grass fires and other minor fires.

"However, these fires are a strong indication of anti-social behaviour and can have a huge impact on communities.”
 

 

“Our firefighters face different challenges every day, and having to deal with arson attacks places additional stress on the county’s emergency services, when our time could be better spent elsewhere.

“It is positive to see that other areas across the country have experienced considerable reductions in the number of deliberate fires since launching FireStoppers.

“Whether it’s wheelie bins being set on fire, or cars being burned out – deliberate fires scar our local environment and present risks to the life and health of those setting the fire and anyone in the vicinity. It is important that we do all that we can to help reduce the number of fires in our communities, to protect property and to protect lives.”

 

“Anti-social behaviour is a major cause for concern in Northamptonshire and arsons are part of that bigger picture. That is why I am happy to jointly fund this new initiative for the county, in the hope that it reduces incidents of deliberate fires and our fire service is able to focus on other work to keep our communities safe.”

 

Anyone with information regarding an incident, who wants to remain 100% anonymous, can call FireStoppers on 0800 169 5558 or visit www.firestoppersreport.co.uk