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More than 150,000 fires attended by fire and rescue services in England between March 2021 and 2022, according to UK authorities latest home office numbers. Of these, nearly half were started intentionally, making arson the leading cause of fires in the country. The year marked a worrying reversal in the downward trend in the number of arson attacks and the total number of fires present. According to local police crime statisticsin England and Wales, the three areas with the highest incidences of arson were in Wales.
Arson has long plagued communities across the country and caused significant financial losses to individuals, businesses and local authorities.
The requirements for fire and rescue services in case of deliberately ignited fires are according to the National Council of Fire Chiefs (NFCC), diverting resources for life-threatening incidents and preventive activities.
Fire and rescue services attended a total of 152,608 fires in England between March 2021 and 2022, a one percent increase from the previous year, according to Home Office fire statistics.
Arson was the cause of 69,776 of these cases, 45.7 percent of the total, up 9.5 percent from the year ending March 2021.
Arson is behind almost half of fire incidents in England (Image: GETTY)
This figure includes 2,685 calls to intentional residential fires, 3,100 to non-residential homes and 7,775 calls to burned vehicles.
However, the vast majority were secondary fires, usually small outdoor fires without significant damage to people or property, such as grassland fires.
Considering arson attacks reported to the police as criminal, during the year ending March, 24,811 offenses were reported in England and Walesan increase of 6.9 percent from 23,218 the year before, when the country was locked down and the overall crime rate fell.
Between 2021 and 2022, there were 4,116 arson attacks that put lives at risk, compared to 3,950 the year before and 4,024 in the year prior to the pandemic.
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This week a major crop fire broke out in Skelton, North Yorkshire, threatening to damage homes (Image: GETTY)
Relative to population size, arson attacks were more likely in Blaenau Gwent in Wales than anywhere else in England and Wales.
In that area, the police registered 151 cases of arson, which amounts to about 216 incidents for every 100,000 people.
The areas with the next two highest arson rates were also in Wales, Caerphilly registering 161 per 100,000 inhabitants and Newport 147.
Middlesbrough reported the highest number of arson attacks in England at 135 per 100,000.
Last year there were 566 arson attacks in Birmingham alone, the highest of any police safety zone in England and Wales, including 83 endangering lives.
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Prince Charles visited Morecambe fire station in Lancashire in early July (Image: GETTY)
Robin Turnbull, the NFCC’s head of arson and anti-social behaviour, said: “Arson and intentional arson have a significant impact on the resources of fire and rescue services, with a conservative estimate of the economic cost of arson at £2.5 billion, and the broader social impact of arson and deliberate arson may be significantly greater.
“Fire and rescue services will continue to work with police to investigate the cause of the arson and prosecute those responsible for attempting to damage or destroy property and endanger lives.”
A recent horrific incident occurred in County Durham where a cocker spaniel was snatched from a garden in the village of Ouston. doused with gasoline and set on firehave to be put down later.
Arson – defined by the CPS such as destroying or damaging property without lawful excuse, with intent or through recklessness – carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, depending on the seriousness of the case, evidence of planning and intent to endanger lives.
Interior Ministry figures show someone was charged or subpoenaed to appear in court in 16.1 percent of life-threatening arson crimes in the year ending March 2022, where the investigation is complete .
That figure drops to 1.9 percent in cases where lives are not endangered, with eight in 10 of these investigations being closed without a suspect being identified.
Deputy Chief Constable Andrew Prophet, head of the National Police Chiefs Council for Antisocial Behavior and Arson, said: “Arson is not a low-level crime. We cannot underestimate the devastating impact it is having on communities and people’s lives across the country.
“It directly endangers both lives and property and, in the worst case scenario, can kill people.
“Police take all reports of arson seriously and any increase in the number of lives endangered by those who commit arson is a serious concern.”
Over the past 20 years, the number of fires attended by fire and rescue services in England has fallen significantly, by more than 60 per cent, while the number of arson attacks has fallen by around 70 per cent.
This cannot be interpreted as a reduction in the burden on the fire brigades, as the number of firefighters employed fell by about 20 percent while the austerity measures were in place.
Over the past decade, the average response time to a call has increased from eight minutes and for seconds to eight minutes and fifty seconds.
The exceptionally warm weather this summer has led to an increase in demand for fire and rescue services, as well as a spike in suspected arson cases, according to the NFCC, with the Northamptonshire Fire and Rescue Service reporting 51 incidents last week.
The London Fire Brigade had its busiest day since World War II on July 19, with more than 1,110 incidents.