A total of 66 deliberate fires were started on the Isle of Wight during the COVID pandemic, figures have revealed.
Including vehicle blazes and those started in derelict hotels, there were 66 deliberate primary and secondary fires on the Island between April 2020 and March 2021 – 12 more than in the previous year (2019/20), an increase of 22% year-on-year. However, there were fewer than in 2018/19, when 77 deliberate fires were started.
A fire is deemed deliberate if it was started as a malicious act.
The increase has been called a ‘blip’ by Hampshire & Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service Group Manager, Jeff Walls, who said the figures are small, so there are times when blips happen. GM Walls said education on fire prevention and safety also stalled during the year as a result of the pandemic.
Although there has been an increase this year, figures have continued to fall significantly from 2006/7 when 292 deliberate fires were reported.
Compared to the previous year, there were 10 more deliberate primary fires — any that occurred in a building (non-derelict), road vehicle or outdoor structure; any fire involving fatalities or casualties and any fire attended by 5 or more pumping appliances — with 4 additional vehicle fires.
On Tuesday night, firefighters from Ryde were mobilised to a charity bin alight in Haylands, as previously reported by Island Echo.
As part of a strategic assessment of the previous year, the figures were produced by the Island’s Community Safety Partnership for the Isle of Wight Council to review.
Speaking at a briefing on the strategic assessment, GM Walls said both protection and prevention teams work with businesses and local communities to provide educational talks on fire safety but that had been lessened during the COVID pandemic. Jeff Walls said it had slowed the fire service’s ability to interact with the community around certain areas but still tried, where possible, to speak to groups over the phone or online.
Each deliberate fire is investigated to identify the cause and going back to the root of the cause, seeing if any proactive work can be done in the future to discourage that. GM Walls said:
“The numbers are so small sometimes even four car fires can look like a blip.
“While we can contact the owner, look at the environment and CCTV, we are down to trying to do more education in the local community.”
Let’s blame the virus for making some morons get their matches/lighters out. What on earth are we reporting here ?….
Facts
I set a deliberate fire only the other night. Not gonna report it tho as it was in my fireplace