Fire chief hails campaign success as small blazes fall by 25 per cent

FIRE chiefs say a campaign that asked people to help clamp down on small fires has led to a 26 per cent fall.

South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue’s Do Your Bit initiative urged residents not to leave not wheelie bins out overnight, to keeping streets and gardens clear of loose rubbish and to report arson incidents to the police.

The school holidays usually brings a spike in incidents but this year’s total of 744 across the county was down just over quarter on the average.

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Group manager Matt Gillatt, head of the joint police and fire community safety team, said firefighters wanted to focus on serious life-threatening fires instead of nuisance blazes.

He said he was “really pleased” with the campaign’s success, adding: “We knew before the campaign started what the root causes were and for people to remove the opportunities for fires to start.”