Deliberate fires putting lives at risk

22/12/2016

Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service is urging people not to put lives at risk by starting deliberate fires.

The warning comes after several incidents in Bretton in Peterborough last night (Thurs) where there were several incidents of deliberate fires including a wheelie bin, piles of rubbish and a postbox set on fire.

In the first incident, a crew from Dogsthorpe was called to some rubbish on fire at Pets at Home at the Bretton Centre in Bretton Way at 5.11pm. They used a hose reel to extinguish the fire and returned to their station by 5.49pm.

A crew from Dogsthorpe was called out shortly afterwards to a wheelie bin well alight, up against a house, in Cleatham in Bretton at 5.48pm. They used a hose reel to extinguish the fire and returned to their station by 6.06pm.

At 6.06pm, the same crew was called to a postbox which had been set on fire in Bretton Way, Bretton. Crews used a CO2 extinguisher to extinguish the fire and returned to their station by 6.46pm.

There was a second fire in Cleatham Way at 6.07pm where some rubbish had been set on fire. Firefighters from Dogsthorpe used a hose reel to extinguish the fire and returned to their station by 7.10pm.

At the same time, a second crew from Dogsthorpe was called to a pile of rubbish in an underpass in Bretton Way, Bretton. Firefighters used a hose reel to extinguish the fire and returned to their station by 7.11pm.

Pete Jones, Arson Liaison Officer for Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Service, warned: “Deliberate fires put lives at risk. If we are dealing with a bin fire somewhere and a house fire comes in, with a report of people inside, we then can’t be in two places at once. Any deliberate fire is a waste of our time and resources.”