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Schools get tips on how to cut arson

From the Telegraph & Argus, first published Thursday 19th Aug 2004.

Firefighters are doing spot checks on schools across Bradford to try to curb the number of arson attacks during the summer holidays.

So far this year there have been 17 school fires in Bradford, 13 of which were deliberate.

Last year 26 out of 30 school fires were arson.

Bradford community fire safety officer Paul McCartney said that although the figures were not particularly high they could not be complacent.

"Obviously we would like to see no fires in schools and the worrying thing is that more fires are happening during the school day," he said.

He said the fire service wrote to all schools in Bradford offering free safety checks on buildings.

"We are also turning up at schools and offering head teachers a risk assessment and we point out security measures to them," said Mr McCartney, who is based at Bradford's fire station in Nelson Street.

"We stress the importance of smoke detectors and sprinklers but, unfortunately, many schools do not have sprinklers as they are not a building regulations requirement. We also advise staff about how the school is laid out can attract vandals."

For instance, he said, alcoves attract groups of people as they can gather out of sight of the staff.

Fire experts also suggest on-site CCTV cameras and magna locks on doors which open automatically if there is a fire.

Bradford has seen some horrific arson attacks on schools, including a huge fire at Iqra School in Manningham in September 2001.

The Drummond Road building was just a year old and the new hall was wrecked.

Only last month Westbourne Primary School, in Skinner Lane, Manningham, was badly damaged after a blaze wrecked offices and caused the closure of a mosque school which was held on site daily.

Mr McCartney said the fire service regularly visited schools to raise awareness about the dangers of arson and the penalties.

"Young people think they are having a bit of fun but when they see pictures of fire victims and hear it is a serious offence we hope this helps to deter them," he said.

A dedicated arson risk service team is now being piloted in Killingbeck, Leeds, and Mr McCartney said a similar operation would be set up in Bradford in the future.

Killingbeck was chosen for the pilot as 97 per cent of fires in the local fire station's area are started deliberately.

The team looks at arson hotspots and works with the community and other bodies to look at and set up methods to reduce the number of fires.

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