Bonfire night fires down

A BONFIRE night wash-out dampened firefighters’ fears of a busy night.

Fire crews across South Yorkshire were called out to 55 deliberately started fires on November 5—a fifteen per cent reduction on last year.

In Rotherham, a bonfire lit by youths behind the Foljambe pub, Doncaster Road, Dalton, an out-of-control bonfire and a firework which set fire to a conifer were the biggest incidents on a rain-sodden evening.

One Rotherham firefighter said: "It is traditionally a busy night of the year, but with all that water around nothing was really burning violently or getting dramatically out of control. It was quite a relief for us."

There were no bonfire or firework-related injuries reported to South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue anywhere across South Yorkshire.

SYFR's Head of Community Safety, Steve Makepeace, said: "The Bonfire period is traditionally a very busy one for fire crews and so it is extremely encouraging to see that the number of incidents continues to fall across South Yorkshire."