CUTTING arson attacks in Warwickshire is the aim of fire chiefs over the summer.
Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service’s Anti-Social Behaviour Intervention Team (ASBIT) will be talking to youths who are known to be responsible for starting a number of fires during the school holidays.
The ASBIT team will be targeting arson hotspots in Stratford, Alcester and Southam over the summer holidays.
Arson reduction officer for WFRS, Rebecca Roberts, said: “We know where, when and who is involved with small fire setting and as such, our planning and positioning of crews ensures face to face engagement and discussion enables those youngsters to see the dangers of fire setting.
“Our aim is to successfully redirect their energy into more positive activities, which will in turn, reduce the number of small fires we are called to attend.
“This reduction will help communities feel safer and make sure we are not wasting resources putting out small fires when we could be at a life risk incident.”
Residents are also being warned of the increased risk of accidental fires – caused by barbecues, discarded cigarettes and hot embers.
