(Credit: DVIDSHUB)<\/p>\n
Fire and Rescue teams across South Yorkshire have appealed to for public help in cracking down on arson by reporting deliberate fires to a new dedicated fire line.<\/p>\n
South Yorkshire have begun working with FireStoppers after 3945 deliberate blazes were started in the county over the last year.<\/p>\n
Figures show that Doncaster had the highest number of these fires with 1116 set, followed by Rotherham with 1053, Barnsley with 989 and Sheffield with 787.<\/p>\n
FireStoppers is an arm of UK charity Crimestoppers which allows the pubic to anonymously report information\u00a0 on deliberate fires which is then used in fire and police investigations.<\/p>\n
The fire service hopes this new tactic will help reduce call-outs, protect public property, keep people safe and safeguard the environment<\/p>\n
Deputy Head of the Police and Fire Community Safety Team, Matt Gillatt said: \u201cWe\u2019ve made great strides in terms of reducing house fires over the last 10 years, but nearly 4000 deliberate fires in one year is 4000 too many.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to show people that we are taking this issue seriously and we also felt we needed to provide people a safe, anonymous route to report details of arson attacks to us.<\/p>\n
\u201cOther fire services across the country have successfully reduced deliberate fire setting by up to 20 percent through this service, and we\u2019re hoping it will have a positive impact here.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur ask of the public is simple \u2013 if you know anything about deliberate fire-setting in your area then please report it via the FireStoppers line and help us crack down on these fires.\u201d<\/p>\n