Every secondary school in Clydebank, as well as all the P6 and P7 pupils in Primary Schools have had a visit from the Fire Brigade recently, not for putting out fires or for rescues but rather for educational reasons to do with anti social actions by a few young people.
It turns out that deliberately started fires have gone up by nearly 30% in a year throughout the Council area as a whole with sadly Clydebank leading the way. The problem is made worse as the initial fire can lead to secondary fires, such as dry grassy areas / woods etc which can spread like wildfire and cause a huge drain on the Fire Service in terms of both equipment and people,
The Fire Service believes that engagement with the youths of the area with an education plan will result in fewer fire raising incidents. The programme is called Firesetters.
Organizations such as the Fire Service can utilize local printers to produce youth oriented leaflets that highlight some of the dangers of willful fire raising along with the costs to the taxpayer of such fires as well as some information about the aftermath and the devastation to nature, wildlife as well as people.
